Trouble Follows Little Sister
by Tigergirl
Summary: It's been two years since the Dark Warlords kidnapped Emily and the Ronin Warriors defeated Talpa and rescued Emily . Emily's in her first year of college, but she is in for a real shock when her brother tells her of a family secret kept from her. Just how much trouble can one girl get into in her first year of college?
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Trouble Follows Little Sister

**Author:** Tigergirl

**Rated:** T

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ronin Warriors, only Emily.

**Summary:** It's been two years since the Dark Warlords kidnapped Emily and the Ronin Warriors defeated Talpa (and rescued Emily). Emily's in her first semester of college, but she's in for a real shock when her brother tells her of a family secret kept for her. Just how much trouble can one girl get into in her first year of college?

CHAPTER ONE

Ring. Ring. Ring. Rowen groaned as he nearly fell off his bed, trying to reach for the phone. He took it off the receiver and held it up to his ear.

"'ello?" he mumbled.

He listened for a minute as the voice on the other line spoke. He nodded his head sleepily. The sleepy ronin turned his head up and listened for a moment. He could hear the shower running from the bathroom he shared with Sage.

"Let me check, Mrs. Date. I think he's in the shower," Rowen said.

Sitting up with a grumble, Rowen laid the phone down against his chest. He shouted his best friend's name and waited. No reply.

"Of course," he mumbled.

He picked up the phone to hold it back up to his ear.

"Give me just a minute, Mrs. Date. I don't think he can hear me."

Rowen laid the phone down on the bedside table before throwing his covers off and standing up. It was far too early for him to be up. It was only nine for God's sake! He trudged over to the bathroom door and reached for the doorknob. It was locked. Big surprise.

Rowen used a closed fist to bang on the door.

"Sage! Hey, Sage!" he shouted.

Waiting, he leaned on the door and listened closely. From inside the bathroom, Rowen heard the shower shut off.

"_Is that you, Ro?_" came Sage's muffled voice from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, Sage. You can blame your mother for that. She's on the phone for you," Rowen replied.

"Can you tell her I'll call her back in a minute?"

"Sure, Sage."

Rowen shuffled back over to his bed. He flopped down onto the bed and picked the phone back up.

"Mrs. Date? He just got out of the shower. Can he call you back in a minute? Okay. Yes, it was nice speaking with you, too."

Rowen placed the phone back down on the receiver and laid back down on his bed. He pulled his covers up before burying his face into his pillow. Before he could fall back to sleep, he heard Sage finish up in the bathroom and come out. Sage walked over to the dresser. He picked up his cell phone and sat down on his bed.

Sage pressed the speed dial for his family's number and waited as he held the earpiece up to his ear. As he waited, he threw a pillow at Rowen. His best friend flopped over to shoot him a sleepy glare.

"Did she say why she was calling?" Sage asked.

Rowen shook his head about the same time Sage's mother picked up the phone. Sage smiled.

"Kon'nichiwa, mother. Nani? I'm at the house so maybe about twenty minutes. Are you sure?" Pause. "Yoi [okay]."

Rowen remained awake and staring at his friend throughout the entire phone conversation. He watched as Sage slowly placed the phone back down with a small frown on his face.

"What's up, Sage?" Rowen asked.

Sage shook his head. "I don't know. Mom says I need to come home. She needs to talk to me about something."

Rowen glanced back at the clock sitting on the dresser. Despite his tired state, the warrior did some quick calculations in his head.

"Will you be back in time? Mia's driving us to the airport at three," Rowen reminded him.

Sage nodded with a half smirk.

"I'll be back in time."

Rowen seemed to accept this and rolled back over to sleep some more. Sage chuckled as he stood and left the room. As he strolled down the stairs, he spotted Kento and Ryo playing a racing game on the game system in the living room. From the looks of it, Kento was losing miserably.

"Eat my dust!" Ryo proclaimed loudly.

Sage shook his head. He pulled his car keys out of his coat pocket and entered the kitchen. Cye was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes. He turned at the sound of jingling keys.

"Where are you off to, Sage? I thought you were going to stay in today before the flight," Cye said.

"I was, but my mother just called. She needs to talk to me about something. Let Mia know I'll be back in time," Sage said, reaching the kitchen door.

Cye called his name which caused him to turn his head towards his friend.

"Mia had to go to the University for an emergency. She'll be gone all day so I'll be taking you and Rowen to the airport." Cye frowned slightly. "I hope that's okay."

Sage nodded. "That's fine, Cye. I'll give you a call when I'm on my way back."

"Okay."

Sage opened the side kitchen door and jogged down the steps to his Camaro. He climbed in, put his seat belt on, and started the ignition. Sage pulled out of the back driveway and headed down the familiar path to his family's house.

He made it most of the way home without any trouble until he was stopped by a red light. While he waited, Sage tried to think about what his mother could want to see him about. Her voice had sounded a tad nervous, but not frightened. In a way, Sage was relieved by the tone of her voice.

A few months ago, his Grandfather had caught an infectious disease that had torn up his immune system. His heart and all his other vital organs were still going strong, but even the slightest cold could cause him to suffer a relapse.

A blaring car horn behind him broke Sage out of his thoughts. He let his foot off the brake and coasted through the intersection. He turned left at the next intersection, drove to the bottom of a hill, and turned down a side street. He stopped the car in front of the house and cut the engine.

Climbing out, Sage looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway of the house. Sage walked calmly up the walkway to the front porch. He greeted his mother with a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, dear. Come inside," his mother said, motioning him into the house.

Sage followed his mother inside. She led him down the hallway to the kitchen where she offered him a cup of tea. He declined and instead just chose to take a seat at the table.

"You needed to talk to me about something, mother?" he hinted as she sat down next to him with her own cup of tea.

"Not yet, Sage. Your father will be down in just a minute. Then we can talk," Mrs. Date said with a weak smile.

The kitchen grew silent as both mother and son stopped talking. Sage gazed at his mother carefully, trying to gauge if her body behavior gave away any clues as to what the conversation was going to be about. They didn't have to wait long for Mr. Date to appear in the doorway. He was in uniform since he went on duty soon.

"Good morning, Sage," Mr. Date said, sitting down beside his wife.

Sage returned the greeting before growing silent and giving them the opportunity to start talking. The husband and wife shared a look before facing their only son.

"What we're about to tell you might come as a shock. It's something we've been meaning to tell everyone. The only person that knows besides your father and I is your grandfather," Mrs. Date said.

Sage narrowed his gaze in confusion. His mother was speaking in riddles.

"Is this about Grandfather?" Sage questioned.

His father shook his head.

"No, Sage. Your grandfather is doing well. This is about your sister." Mr. Date sighed. "This is about Emily."

Sage snapped his gaze from his mother to father. Sage thought back to the last serious issue that had occurred with his youngest sister, Emily.

It had been two years ago last month that Emily had been snatched by Talpa's Dark Warlords. They had dragged her back into the dynasty under Talpa's orders. It turned out that Emily's close proximity to the Ronin Warriors had left an effect on her that none of them could have predicted. It was Talpa's belief that Emily had possessed power from the five armors; his belief proved to be true.

Once they had discovered her whereabouts, the five Ronin Warriors had entered the dynasty to save her. After struggling with the warlords, it had come down to a final confrontation with Talpa to free Emily of the dynasty's grasp. It had taken half a year for Emily to fully heal from her injuries, external and internal.

"What's wrong with Emily?" Sage demanded.

His mother hesitated. This caused him to worry even further. He repeated his question with a respectful yet more firm voice.

"Before we tell you, Sage, you have to understand that we've always had Emily's best interest at heart. It's just never been a good time to tell her. But with your grandfather's health declining and you visiting her, we thought it best that you break the news to her," Mrs. Date explained.

Mr. Date slid an envelope across the table to Sage; the Halo bearer hadn't even noticed its presence. His father spoke as Sage untied the loop keeping it closed.

"An issue has never occurred before. Emily's never been seriously sick so we had no concern to tell her."

Sage opened the envelope and pulled out a thin packet of papers. He started reading from the top where Emily's full name was listed. A quick scan over the first page revealed to him that the entire packet was information on Emily. As he continued reading and flipped through the pages, Sage became pale.

"I can't believe this," he murmured.

He looked up into the worried faces of his parents.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell _Emily_? Why would you keep this a secret for so long?" Sage demanded with an air of anger about him.

Mrs. Date reached forward to touch his arm, but he scooted back away from her. She let her hand touch the empty air before pulling it back.

"We've never had a problem with this before," Mr. Date tried to reassure his son.

Sage suddenly stood up, pushing his chair back away from the table. He shook his head firmly.

"What happens if Emily becomes sick? I mean, _really_ sick. How am I supposed to help her?"

For that question, neither of his parents had an answer for him. Sage stuffed the papers back into the envelope and stormed out of the kitchen.

"Sage! Sage, wait!"

Sage ignored his mother's calls for him as he ran out of the house and to his car. Tossing the envelope down into his passenger seat, he jammed the keys into the ignition. Gunning the gas pedal, Sage roared out of the neighborhood and away from his family's home.

Mrs. Date stood sadly in the doorway as she watched her son's car disappear around the corner. Despite his obvious frustration, she knew her son would drive carefully. She felt bad about placing such a burden on her only son's shoulders, but it was time Emily knew. And she knew deep down that her youngest would take it better if he was the one to tell her.

END OF CHAPTER ONE

**All right, readers and reviewers! The first chapter of the sequel to "Little Sister, Big Trouble" is up! I am looking for a record number of reviews so please take a short moment to give me a review on what you think. Many thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**RAMBO112: **Guess you will have to keep reading to find out. I'll just mention this now. I'm working on Chapter Five and I still haven't revealed what's up with Emily.

**Vampire Ronin:** Oh, I made a quick fix of that. I was doing like two or three things at the same time. Won't be doing that again. You want more? You got more! Oh, and I'm happy you had a good time on your trip.

CHAPTER TWO

Cye sighed. The car ride was quiet as Rowen slept in the backseat and Sage brooded in the front. Shortly after leaving the house, Sage had come back to the house silent as a stone. The only time he had spoken was when Cye had come upstairs to tell him it was time to leave. It was obvious to the youngest ronin that something had gone wrong with his family.

Cye finally had an opportunity to talk to Sage when he stopped at a red light.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Sage, who had been in deep thought, turned his head to look at Cye. He regarded him in silence. The long look on the blonde's face spoke volumes to the brunette.

"My parents…" Sage paused, as if struggling for words.

The light turned green and Cye continued on down the road. Sage seemed to wait for the next red light before speaking again.

"My parents told me a secret about Emily. They've kept it a secret since she was a baby. They want me to tell her while Rowen and I are visiting," Sage said.

Cye frowned. Sage was being awfully vague and this had to be the longest red light in traffic history. He shifted his gaze from the blazing red light to his friend.

"If you don't mind me asking, Sage, what's the secret?" Cye asked.

Not wanting the sleeping Rowen to wake and overhear him, Sage leaned across his seat to whisper in Cye's ear. The normally calm ronin snapped his head to the side, almost clipping Sage in the nose. He stared at his friend in pure shock.

"They never told her she-BEEEEEP!"

Suddenly remembering where he was, Cye jerked his attention back to the task at hand and moved through the green light. In response, Sage slumped back into his seat and fell silent. He closed his eyes and tried to gather his thoughts on the matter.

How was he even going to bring the subject up? For once in his life, Sage believed his parents had royally screwed up. Sure, he was going to pay in a spiritual sense for thinking such thoughts, but it was truly what he believed.

It wasn't long before the car had reached the airport. Cye stopped the car at the unloading gate. Rowen was awake as soon as the car had stopped and jumped out to grab his bags with an energy the other two were surprised he possessed. Sage got out and walked around to the trunk to grab

his. Cye met him there to hold out his bags to him.

Rowen dashed inside, calling to Sage over his shoulder that he would meet him at the terminal. Sage started to follow him but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned back around to face Cye.

"I can't imagine having to tell my sister, if something like this happened. I know it'll be hard for you, mate." Cye drew in a deep breath. "But you're her older brother and so long as Emily knows she has your support, I think she'll be okay."

Sage smiled. Cye always seemed to know just what to say in tough situations. He thanked his friend before chasing after Rowen. Sage made it through security and caught up with Rowen at the terminal. He sent his bags onto the plane with Rowen's except his laptop bag.

"We're in luck, Sage. The flight's going to leave on time. They just started calling First Class," Rowen told him.

"Glad to hear it," Sage replied.

It didn't take long for them to be called onto the flight, board the plane, and find their seats. Sage took the window seat while Rowen sat on the aisle seat. Since there was no one sitting in between them, they put their carry-on bags in the empty seat.

Sage took out his cell phone to send a text message to Emily. He told her they were boarding the plane. Emily's response popped up on his screen after only a few seconds of waiting.

**Enjoy the 15 ½ hr flight. Try not to kill Ro out of boredom.**

Sage smiled as the flight attendant instructed everyone to turn off all electronics and put on their seat belts. The blonde warrior pulled out a Sudoku book and pencil. While the flight attendant went over everything, he started working on the puzzle he had yet to finish. He was so engrossed in his puzzle he ended up working through the plane taking off.

After the seat belt sign flashed off, Sage unsnapped it but kept his attention on his puzzle. He heard Rowen take out his laptop and boot it up. Sage continued working on puzzles until he reached his frustration level and numbers were floating in front of his face.

He packed his things away into his laptop bag and looked at his watch. Only twenty minutes had passed so far. Sage just knew it was going to be a long flight. The knowledge of his sister's secret weighed heavily on his shoulders and heart.

Sage glanced over at the man he had called his best friend for many a year. If he was going to survive the nearly sixteen hour flight, he didn't want to be the only one thinking about the whole matter with his sister. Sage turned his head and opened his mouth to speak.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

His mouth clicked shut. Rowen had surprised him by closing his laptop, turning his attention to his best friend, and speaking the same exact words he'd been about to say. Sage silently nodded his head to which Rowen smiled.

Rowen put his laptop away and turned to face Sage.

"I wanted to talk to you before we landed in Florida and I figured now would be a good time," Rowen said.

Sage nodded again. He and Rowen often spoke to each other, but the tone of Rowen's voice led him to believe this conversation was more serious.

"I stopped by your family's house the other day and spoke with your parents."

Sage froze. What could Rowen have had to say to his parents? Did his parents tell the other ronin about Emily's secret? Rowen took his friend's silence as a cue to continue.

"I wanted to stop by and ask them something. It had to do with Emily," Rowen said.

Sage waited. It seemed like Rowen was struggling to put his next words into order.

"So I'm just going to come out and say it. Emily and I have been dating for a good deal of time. This weekend will be our third year anniversary." Rowen paused. "I'm planning to propose to Emily."

The ronin of Light had been a little prepared for this, only because of the introduction up to the final statement. Plus, his best friend was fiddling with something in his jacket pocket. Sage smiled.

"I can't imagine my parents consented to you marrying my sister when she's just started college," Sage blurted out.

Rowen turned a bright red in his face as he looked away, mumbling "I would _never_."

Sage frowned in confusion. Rowen proceeded to explain that he had no intentions of marrying Emily until after she had graduated.

"With the distance, I just want Emily and me to be on the same page about our relationship. With your parents blessing, I intend to ask her to marry me and have a long term engagement. I wanted to ask for your blessing, too," Rowen said.

Sage reached across the middle seat to grasp his friend by the arm. Rowen became silent as Sage leaned forward to look him dead in the eye.

"Over the last three years, I've seen the two of you together. You bring out the best in each other and you were there every day to help her after her…_encounter_ with….**them**. Emily wouldn't be

able to find a better person to spend the rest of her life with."

Nightmares; night terrors; violent reactions to someone approaching her from behind; and refusal to be alone outside at night. The first few months after the Ronin Warriors successfully rescued Emily from the dynasty had been the hardest. She had avoided the University and downright refused to ride the bus, especially the one that stopped at the park.

Rowen reached into his pocket and pulled out a small ring. He handed it to Sage with a smile. Sage was in awe at the special ring he held. The ring was silver with a clear band through the center of the two pieces of silver. The clear middle had a beautiful silvery-white liquid within it. It reminded Sage of a mood ring, except it didn't change color as he held it.

"It's wonderful, Rowen. She'll love it," Sage promised, handing the ring back.

"I hope so." Rowen smiled shyly. "I spent a lot of time on it."

"Huh?"

Now the Ronin of Strata had lost him. He glanced down at his watch. Only fourteen and a half more hours to go.

I survived the dynasty and Talpa only to die on a flight to the States, Sage moaned to himself.

"Do you remember how I disappeared for a week?" Nod. "Well, I used my armor to gather stardust. The band is made from parts of one of my arrows and the center is the stardust."

Sage was stunned. Rowen had returned from his week away exhausted. He had slept for a day and half afterwards yet had not informed any of his friends what he had been doing. Sage handed the ring back carefully and his friend stashed it away in his pocket.

[I'm hoping it will help her astral project further with the distance. She's become really good at it.]

Sage didn't blame him for switching to their telepathic link through the armors. It was more private information he was discussing now. Thinking about Emily's ability to astral project caused him to look away from Rowen and frown. As part of her healing, Emily had insisted on training with each ronin and honing her abilities. With the threat of Talpa no longer in the air, they were all equally surprised Emily still possessed said abilities.

"What's wrong, Sage?"

So as not to alarm Rowen, Sage slowly turned back around to face him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Rowen narrowed his gaze as he pulled up his armrest, moved their bags behind him, and scooted a little closer.

"I can see you want to tell me somethin', Sage. I'm not going anywhere and I'm willing to listen," Rowen said, trying to coax him into talking.

Sage knew Rowen was right. He had been a little deterred after hearing Rowen's news, but perhaps he could help him when it came time to break the news to Emily.

"It's not something I can tell you. I have to _show_ you," Sage insisted.

Sage instructed his friend to hand him his computer bag. Rowen reached behind him to grab it and hand it over. Sage dug into his bag for the large yellow envelope his parents had given him and he handed it over to Rowen.

Rowen stared at Sage confused as he pulled the papers out. His eyes scanned across the first page quickly. He let out a soft gasp as he flipped through each page. He kicked his speed reading into overdrive while reading each document.

When Rowen was done, he laid the papers down flat in his lap and he appeared flabbergasted. His mouth faltered with trying to form words as he scrunched up his face and narrowed his gaze at nothing in particular. Under any other circumstances, Sage would have been laughing and snapping pictures to get proof of the one time in his life that Rowen was stumped.

As Rowen continued to struggle for words, a stewardess stopped next to Sage.

"Can I get you anything, gentlemen?" she asked.

"Two waters, please," Sage answered, flashing her the patented Date smile.

She blushed as she left to comply. A minute later, she brought two bottled waters, handing one to each young man. Rowen screwed off his top, took a long sip, and put his water down.

"Ooookay. I'm guessing Emily doesn't know about this," Rowen said, tucking the papers away into the envelope.

"No," Sage replied.

"And I'm assuming this was why your mom wanted to talk to you. They want you to tell her? While we're visiting?" Rowen added.

Sage nodded. Rowen sucked in a large gulp of air while shaking his head. He handed the packet back to Sage who rammed it not too gently into his bag.

"How did your parents manage to keep it a secret for so long?" Rowen inquired.

Sage shrugged. That question had been plaguing him since the moment he had sped off away from his house.

"I guess it never came up. She's never had a medical issue serious enough for it to come into question," Sage explained.

Rowen's frown deepened.

"How come her pediatrician never said anything?" Rowen murmured.

"My parents must have talked to him ahead of time. Truthfully, I'm surprised they've kept it quiet for so long." Sage sighed, sinking further back into his seat. "Now I just have to figure out how to tell her."

"Well, at least they have all the medical information listed there."

Rowen let out his own sigh as he decided a nap was definitely now in order. He reached up in the cabin to pull out a blanket and pillow. He turned away from his old friend as he closed his eyes.

"How does someone tell their little sister something like this? 'Hey, Em. Congrats on your three year anniversary with Ro. By the way, there's something mom and dad have been meaning to tell you.' _Gods, I'd rather fight the dynasty all over again_!"

Rowen pressed his face into his pillow to stifle his laughter. Why did Emily have to go to a college halfway across the world and make them endure this God awful long flight? If his best friend was going to complain the whole way there, he was going to take a very large sleeping pill.

END OF CHAPTER TWO

**Here's a sneak peek from Chapter Three:**

"So what are the sleeping arrangements going to be?" Sage asked, placing his things down on his sister's bed.

Emily turned around to face him with a shy smile on her face. Sage frowned. This particular smile never meant good things.

"Whatever it is you're thinking, forget it," Sage warned her in a tone that left no room for argument.

**Come on, Readers! You know you want to leave a review. It's especially easy now that this irritating box is just below. You can make it anonymous so long as you give me some sort of username to address you in my comments at the beginning of the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Guest: ***points below* Here's the new chapter! ;)

**Vampire Ronin: **I figured Rowen would be the type to ask for the family blessing before proposing and I figured he would be a little OCD about finding the perfect ring. He figured there was no such thing so he would make one that would be so much more significant to Emily. You'll find out why the ring is silver instead of gold in either Chapter 6 or 7, I think it is. Everyone seems to be curious about what's on the papers about Emily. I want to start leaving more clues, but I'm afraid it'll give it all away. Plus I'm having too much fun. LOL

**Stardust2001:** I LOVE that you love it! You and all of my lovely readers/reviewers are wondering what the mystery is. It's so nice to have my writing appreciated and have reviewers leave comments. Thank you!

**Thank the gods, my wishes have been answered! More reviewers to hear from. Bless you all!**

Key for now 'til the end

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER THREE

Fourteen hours had come and gone without much trouble. There had been a little turbulence, but it was nothing that would delay them from arriving in Florida on time. Sage was typing on his computer while Rowen was fast asleep. They still had half an hour before the plane was due to arrive.

Sage was saving the work on his laptop when his cell phone started ringing. He quickly answered it so he wouldn't disturb anyone.

"Hello?"

"_Sage?_"

"Yayoi? It's nine in the morning. Shouldn't you be at work? Is anything wrong?"

"_I'm taking a personal day. Mom just broke the news to me and Satsuki. I can't believe it!_"

Sage sighed as he shifted the phone to his other ear. He had a feeling his parents had told him first since he would be breaking the news to Emily.

"I've seen the paperwork, Yayoi. It's true about Emily."

Sage sucked in a breath as he heard his older sister pull the phone back and start cursing. He knew by the lack of their mother yelling in the background that his sister must be at her home.

"_How are you going to tell her?_"

"I'm not sure yet."

Rowen stirred in his sleep, but otherwise remained asleep. Sage smiled. He remembered that Rowen had asked him to wake him when they got close to landing.

"_She's going to have such a hard time understanding all this. She'll probably blow up the entire college when she finds out!_"

Sage frowned. He had a feeling she would get frustrated, maybe even a little depressed. However, he knew she wouldn't get so angry as to "blow up" something.

"Emily will be frustrated, but it doesn't change anything and she knows that. Listen, Yayoi? I have to go now. We'll be landing soon and I need to make sure we're ready."

Sigh. "_Okay, Sage. Give Emily our love._"

"I will."

Sage ended his call and stored his phone away. He closed the program on his laptop, shut it down, and packed it away into its bag. A quick glance at his watch warned him they would be landing soon. He reached across the seat and gently shook Rowen by the shoulder.

A well-rested Rowen sat up straight and stretched his arms up. He folded up his blanket and handed it to the stewardess who came by. He reached behind his back to hand her the pillow as well. He grinned at Sage.

"We due in soon?" Rowen asked.

"We should be there in about fifteen minutes," Sage answered.

"Good. I'm gonna use the restroom before we land," Rowen said, standing up.

Sage stood up to allow Rowen to walk past him. They had switched seats halfway through the flight so that Rowen could enjoy the window seat, too. Sage settled his stuff and sent a quick text to Emily. He only had to wait a few moments for a reply.

**From: Emily**

**I'm here waiting for you. Tom let me drive his car. Can't wait to see you! **

**8:45AM, Oct 28**

Rowen returned just as Sage was putting his phone away. He moved carefully around Sage to plop down in his seat. The speaker system came on as a stewardess began speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon begin our descent. Please put your seats in an upright position and buckle your seat belts."

/…/

Sage adjusted the strap of his laptop bag on his shoulder as he walked towards the food court. If he knew his sister (and he did), she was sitting at one of the tables with a drink in hand. As he entered the airport area where all the food places were, Sage spotted her instantly.

Emily was sitting at a small, two person table. She was dressed in a short sleeved t-shirt and jeans. She wore fingerless gloves over her hands. Her long hair lay straight and over her shoulders. It was no longer simply blonde; now it was blonde and black. Her hair was dyed black in parts on the top layers of her hair and some underneath.

With a good eye, he could see the silver line of a necklace hanging around her neck. He remembered well how she had come to own the necklace she often hid under her shirt. The ronins had tried to explain to Emily that the Ancient One was dead, but she had insisted he had helped her and had given her the necklace.

Even though the dynasty was no longer a threat in her life, Emily continued to hide it unless she was among the ronins and family.

Emily lifted her Pepsi bottle to take a short sip before putting it down and screwing her cap back on. As if sensing someone was watching her, Emily turned around in her seat to look to her left. Her whole face sprung to life at the sight of him.

Abandoning her almost empty drink, Emily darted from the table towards Sage. She dashed around a family of three, giving Sage enough time to gently lower his laptop bag to the ground before she launched at him. Sage threw his arms up to catch his sister around the waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Sage!" she exclaimed.

She hugged him tightly and laid her head down on top of his. He laughed as he returned the tight squeeze and set her back down on her feet. Emily kept her arms around Sage's neck as she reached up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. Only then did she drop her arms and step back.

"I'm so excited you're here! I've missed you so much," Emily confessed.

The separation _had_ been long. Emily had graduated in May, moved to an apartment in August and started school in September. Now it was the last few days of October and Emily wouldn't be visiting until Christmas.

"It's great to be here, Em. How have you been?" Sage asked.

Emily's smile spread from ear to ear as she loosely crossed her arms over her chest.

"Good. I've been good, Sage. Tom has been a wonderful roommate, my class schedule is _so_ flexible it's a wonder I even go to class, and my part-time job _rocks_!" she answered.

Sage knew Emily had been excited about the change in environment when she had been accepted to the private college in Florida. Pineview College was one of the top ranked and cheapest private schools in the United States. Of course, money was never an issue for the Date family, but none of the members of the family bragged about it.

Emily glanced around Sage.

"Don't tell me Rowen skipped out on the trip at the last minute," Emily frowned.

Sage shook his head as he stepped forward to put his arm back around Emily's shoulders. He steered her to the right and guided them to start walking.

"I volunteered him to get our bags while I met up with you. I told him we'd meet up at the baggage claim," Sage explained.

Emily shot him a playful glare.

"That's mean, Sage."

"It's called being an older brother, Emily."

The two siblings walked and talked all the way down to the luggage claim. They found Rowen standing next to all the bags that had been brought with them. Emily broke free from her brother's hold to run over to her boyfriend. He threw his arms up to catch her as she launched herself at him.

Emily threw her arms around him and squeezed tightly. Rowen returned the hug before setting her back down on her feet. They shared a short, but meaningful kiss. They separated before Sage had a chance to pull them apart; it had been known to happen on occasion.

"I'm so glad you both could visit. Tom just recently set up a program on my laptop that's going to allow me to chat with you guys by webcam. We'll have to try it out while you're visiting," Emily said as she led them outside.

"That would definitely save the expenses on phone bills. Are we going to get to meet your roommate today?" Rowen asked as Emily guided them over to a four door, dark blue car.

Emily stuck the key into the keyhole on the trunk and popped it open. She helped the guys lug their things into the trunk and arrange it so everything would fit.

"We should have time for you to meet him before he goes to work. He's got work all afternoon and evening," Emily answered.

She unlocked the car doors and the trio piled into the car with Rowen climbing into the passenger seat. Unknown to Emily, while they were waiting to depart from the plane, the two men had played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would sit up front with her. Emily backed out of the parking space and, after paying the parking fee, headed for the road.

"Have you still been training?" Sage asked from the backseat.

Emily nodded her head.

"Sure have. I train twice a week in everything except archery." Rowen openly gaped at her with Sage covering up his chuckles. "Oh, oh, it's not what you think. _Shut up, Sage_! I'm in the Archery Club at the college and we meet every Saturday for the entire morning. I train in archery then."

Rowen still looked slightly insulted, but forgave her when she mentioned she had been competing in archery and doing very well.

"Speaking of training, it's been a while since we've worked with you. Can you refresh my memory?" Rowen asked.

"Well, as you remember me telling you two years ago, I have abilities that match up to the five ronin armors. Astral projection for Strata and lightning and bright light from Halo. Oh, oh! Sage, it was so cool!"

Emily turned around to smile at her brother. Normally, the older brother would have been concerned, but they were sitting at a railroad crossing that had just dropped the bars two cars ahead of them.

"What was so cool?" Sage asked.

"I went training out during a thunderstorm – Don't give me that look! – And a few lightning bolts struck at me. I was able to channel them from one hand to the other then back at the clouds. It. was. amazing!"

Sage couldn't help, but crack a grin. If asked, he would confess that he had done the same thing a few times. He knew exactly how his sister felt. It was a thrill to feel the raw energy of light that came in the form of lightning. Sage listened on as he watched a train appear on the tracks.

"The Hardrock armor gave me an added boost of strength. I can smash my fist through a tree and I even put a crack in a boulder. I have to be very focused to use it, though. Then there's the Torrent armor. From Cye, I can move just as quickly as you guys while you're in your subarmors and can breathe underwater for at least an hour.

"And from the Wildfire armor, I just started training in earnest. Sadly, I can only start a small fire."

With that said, Emily shifted the car into drive as the railroad crossing bars rose and the cars in front moved. They drove through town with Emily driving where there was no doubt in anyone's mind who she had learned to drive from. It was obvious by her flying through yellow lights and exceeding the speed limit that Sage had instructed her in driving.

It wasn't long before she pulled the car up to a closed gate. She rolled the window down and reached out to a keypad where she typed in a four digit password. The gate emitted a loud beeping sound as it swung open and Emily drove through.

The biggest shock had not been the school Emily had chosen to attend, but her choice of housing. Due to the college's freshmen class being larger than projected, the number of dorms available had been limited. Luckily, Emily had met someone on-campus during Summer Orientation that had introduced her to Tom, a tall Deaf[1] college junior.

Her entire family, Sage excluded, had boarded an immediate plane bound for the States. They had insisted on meeting Emily's potential roommate and seeing the apartment he lived in before giving their approval. Emily had told Sage all about the experience over the phone. After getting

off the phone with her, Sage had forced himself to sit down from all the laughing.

It's a wonder they even became roommates, Sage thought.

Sage was jerked out of his musings when Emily pulled her roommate's car into his reserved parking spot. The trio climbed out of the car and unloaded their bags. Emily guided them upstairs to the second floor to the first apartment at the top of the stairs. She twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Emily held the door open for her brother and boyfriend. She instructed them to place their stuff down by the doorway.

"Let me see if I can find my wayward roommate," Emily told them.

They watched as Emily walked through the entranceway and past the kitchen. She stopped in a doorway and turned to the left.

"Ah! There you are!" she exclaimed.

She stepped out of view and they could hear the television being turned off. A second later, Emily walked back into the room with a tall, dark-haired man. Tom had unnaturally dark red hair, which almost seemed black and bright blue eyes.

"_**Tom, this is my brother Sage and boyfriend Rowen. Guys, this is Tom, my roommate**_," Emily introduced.

The two stared transfixed as Emily used her hands to communicate while speaking. Tom's gaze had fallen on his shorter roommate when she had first begun speaking. She stood to the side so they could all see her. Tom smiled and reached his hand out.

"Oh! Nice to meet both of you," Tom said in a clear and crisp voice.

Rowen was surprised. He had met some deaf students at the university before, but most of them he could only understand a few words they said. Hoping he wouldn't offend Emily's roommate, Rowen voiced this question while Emily interpreted for him. Tom smiled at him and reassured him the question wasn't rude.

"I'm post-lingually deaf so my speech is easier to understand. I got really sick when I was fourteen which resulted in my hearing loss. I wear a hearing aid on my left ear," Tom answered as he reached up and took his hearing aid off to show the two.

Rowen and Sage were surprised Tom didn't sign, but he was quick to correct them when he turned to Emily and signed something to her.

"_**Oh! I'm sorry. Tom has to go to work now. Stay out of**_** trouble**," Emily said in a teasing manner.

"Who? Me?" Tom asked with a sly smile.

"_**Yes, I mean you**_**.**"

Tom chuckled before pulling Emily close to give her a tight hug and plant a kiss on the top of her head. He said goodbye to the trio before darting out the door.

"Why didn't he sign before when he was talking directly to us?" Sage asked.

"Because he didn't need to. Tom knows neither of you sign and both of you could understand him fine by speech only. With his hearing aid, he can actually hear quite a bit, but he prefers to sign," Emily explained.

"You'll have to teach us some signs while we're here," Rowen commented.

"I'd love to!" Emily exclaimed.

Emily motioned for them to grab their things as she led them through the apartment to where her room was.

"So what are the sleeping arrangements going to be?" Sage asked, placing his things down on his sister's bed.

Emily turned around to face him with a shy smile on her face. Sage frowned. This particular smile never meant good things.

"Whatever it is you're thinking, forget it," Sage warned her in a tone that left no room for argument.

Rowen chuckled as he watched Emily change from nervous to an "innocent before proven guilty" look. It consisted of a smile that was obviously fake with the puppy eyes.

"Oh, come on, Sage! It's not _that_ bad!"

Sage glanced at Rowen who shrugged. He had no clue what crazy idea was going through his girlfriend's mind. Sage held up a finger to Rowen as he grabbed Emily by the arm and pulled her out of the room. Rowen stayed where he was as he heard muffled talking.

Apparently, Emily must have told her brother her plan, but the next thing that happened was Sage raising his voice. He wasn't yelling, but he was loud enough for Rowen to hear him.

"Ooooooh, no! No, no, no, no…NO. I am in no way agreeing to that. I don't care if I have to sleep on the floor, but I am not agreeing to that."

"Sage, you are my brother and I love you, but I am not afraid to lock you out of this apartment with a tent and sleeping bag."

Rowen chuckled as he leaned on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He heard the two argue for a little more before it got interesting with name calling.

"Overprotective bear!"

"Scheming little duck!"

Rowen shook his head. The two didn't necessarily insult each other. It sounded more like a game between the two siblings. Soon it became quiet and Sage reentered the room.

"So what's the verdict?" Rowen asked.

Sage didn't answer him until he had closed the door. It was obvious he didn't want Emily overhearing them.

"I will be sleeping on the futon for the duration of our visit. Emily has insisted the two of you share her bed. [I have my reservations about this, but since you plan to propose to her I find myself relenting to her.] I've agreed to the arrangement on the conditions that you do _**nothing**_," Sage shot him a stern look. "And Cooper stays in the room at all times."

Despite the bounce between speech and the mind link, Rowen was able to follow his best friend's comments. The last comment brought a loud groan from him.

"Not Coop."

END OF CHAPTER THREE

[1] Deaf v. deaf – The use of the capital D is not a typo. Typically, the lowercase d refers to an audiological deafness. The uppercase D refers to a cultural deafness. People who are Deaf are involved in the deaf community and have deaf & hearing friends and usually, but are not required to know sign language.


	4. Chapter 4

**Stardust2001:** Addiction of Tom, huh? Lol jk I thought the addition of Tom into the story would be nice. He's a regular type of guy and a good roommate for Emily. He'll play an integral part in the story.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER FOUR

After stashing their things away, Rowen and Sage followed Emily over to the college campus. It was only a fifteen minute walk from her apartment complex and they were more than happy to stretch their legs after the long plane trip. Emily walked between the two men while holding Rowen's hand. They crossed the road using the crosswalk and entered the open courtyard that acted as entrance to the school.

Pineview College was a beautiful school. The main building was an old, but majestic castle-like building with two towers and a fountain in the center of the courtyard.

"This is the main building which houses girls dormitories only on the ground, second, third and fourth floors. It also has the main security office and the cafeteria. The cafeteria is huge! It offers a large variety of food so you won't be missing Cye's cooking too much," Emily boasted.

Sage chuckled as Emily led them around the fountain and up the stairs. They entered the main lobby that was just as beautiful as the outside of the building. It had a high ceiling with a sky roof at the very top which lit up the lobby with natural sunlight. The floor was made of marble and the building was made of old wood. She made sure to point out the bathrooms and the security office.

They bypassed the cafeteria for now since it was a little early for lunch. Next, Emily took the guys downstairs to the back way out of the main building that led to a breezeway. As they walked around the campus, she pointed out the laundry facilities, the main academic building, a boys dormitory and the admissions office.

"The communications building and sports management department are off campus in that direction. The student center is the newer looking building over there and the library is the building there on the corner," Emily pointed out.

The two men weren't surprised by Emily's vast knowledge of the campus as she continued to give them more information about Pineview. Even though she had been on campus for a short amount of time, Emily had joined the Ambassadors which were a group of students who gave tours to prospective students.

Their tour was interrupted when they reached the plaza near the academic building. An older gentleman wielding a cane approached them with a gentle smile on his face.

"Good morning, Professor Douglas. How are you this beautiful morning?" Emily asked.

"I'm doing quite well, Emily. Thank you for asking. May I assume these are the visitors you mentioned in class yesterday?" Professor Douglas asked her in return.

Emily nodded.

"Professor Douglas, this is my older brother Sage and boyfriend Rowen. Guys, this is Professor Douglas. I'm taking his Introduction to Sociology class this semester. He also teaches some upper level Sociology courses," Emily introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," Sage replied, reaching a hand out to shake hands with the professor.

Rowen shook his hand after Sage.

"I hope you boys enjoy your visit. I must be going. I look forward to reading your paper, Emily," Professor Douglas said before walking off.

Emily smiled as they continued on their tour. She told Sage and Rowen that the Sociology professor was one of her favorite teachers thus far.

"I see him first thing tomorrow morning and he's the only class I have on Tuesdays and Thursdays," Emily said.

What's the rest of your schedule like?" Rowen asked as they walked over to the library.

"Normally, I have one class on Monday nights and two classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I have English 101 at eight o'clock and College Algebra at nine o'clock. My Speech Communication 101 class is Monday nights from five to seven-thirty. You guys are in luck this week. My Speech class was cancelled for tonight, my Math teacher is out of town at a conference, and my English teacher gave us the next two classes off to work on our papers," Emily answered.

Sage shook his head which caused Emily to raise an eyebrow in question.

"If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you had planned it this way," Sage said, giving her a knowing look.

Emily winked at him. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

The next trip across campus was to the school theater. They walked through the empty lobby until they were standing between the upper and lower seating of the theater. There were a few clusters of students standing on the stage. There was one student down in the lower levels. He seemed to be directing one of the groups on the stage.

A guy on the stage glanced their way and waved. Everyone else, including the guy in the seats, followed his gaze.

"Hey, Sky!"

"Sky! What's up, girl?"

Rowen and Sage both turned to Emily with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Sky?" they said.

Emily laughed and nodded.

"I share most of my classes with two other Emily's. I'm helping with the play they're putting on this semester and one of them is starring in the play. One of the guys came up with the nickname one day since I always seem to have my head in the clouds. So everyone calls me Sky to save the mass confusion," the blonde girl explained.

One of the girls had jumped down from the stage and jogged up the ramp to them. Sage had to do a double take when he saw her. The girl could have passed as his sister's double. She had long blonde hair the same length and shade of Emily. Her eyes were the same bright blue as Emily's. The stranger appeared to be an inch or two taller than Emily, though.

"Kon'nichiwa, Sky. I didn't think you were coming by this shū [week]. Korera futatsu no hansamuna dansei wa daredesu ka [Who are these two handsome men?]" she asked.

Both of them flushed while Emily shot her friend a small glare. She pointed to her brother and said, "Otōto." Then she held up her hand clasped with Rowen's and said, "Bōifurendo." Sage was mildly impressed with the stranger. Emily was fluent in Japanese, but rarely spoke it.

"Yoroshiku ne [Nice to meet you]. I'm Elizabeth Ann Ichihara. Sky and I met in the Student Union when she started here," she said, shaking hands with them.

"I'm Rowen and this is Sage," Rowen replied.

"It's so nice to meet some of Emily's kazoku [family]," the blonde girl said.

"Elizabeth Ann, we have to get back to work!" someone yelled from the stage.

Elizabeth Ann yelled back that she would be there in a minute. She turned back to the trio with a sheepish grin.

"Mōshiwakearimasen [I'm sorry], but we have a lot of practice to get down. I'll see you later, Sky?"

"Maybe tomorrow."

"Good. See you then."

Once the woman started walking away, Emily dragged them both outside.

"You've never mentioned her before," Sage stated point blank.

Emily shrugged her shoulders. She explained that she had been so busy that she had barely mentioned any of her new friends except Tom.

"Where is she originally from?" Rowen asked.

"Would you believe it if I said Toyama?" Emily asked.

The two ronin warriors stopped her by using strong grips on her elbows. They each gave her a look that said 'Get out!' Emily shook her head.

"I'm serious. Elizabeth Ann is only a few years older than me, but she was homeschooled. This is her second year at Pineview. We were practically twins until I added the black to my hair," Emily explained.

They couldn't argue with Emily's last statement. The two bore a good resemblance. As they walked over to the cafeteria, Emily proceeded to tell them more about all of her new friends. Most of her new friends were freshmen like her, but she had a few upper classmen friends due to meeting them in the Ambassador program.

When they entered the cafeteria, Emily whipped out her student ID and paid for the three of them at the register. From there, she led them around the cafeteria. There were two tables in the center which had salad fixings and fruit. A long table at the far wall was serving the Special of the Day which read as Shrimp Scampi.

To both the left and right were two small open room areas. Off to the right was tables that contained pizza on one and hot food dishes on another. There was a small table that had a large assortment of desserts. The room to the left had a sandwich table and a vegetarian food table. Both sides had soda fountain drinks and tea.

The three separated to gather their meals. Emily stood in line for some shrimp scampi and thankfully didn't have to wait long.

"Gracias, Mrs. June," Emily said, reaching out to take the plate.

"Oh? De nada, Emily. Enjoy your lunch, sweetie," the older woman smiled.

Emily returned the smile. Mrs. June and Professor Douglas were the only ones, aside from her welcomed visitors, that didn't call her by her school nickname. Truth be told, she didn't mind the change in name. There had been five Emily's at her school in Toyama and all of them had been referred to by that name.

Starting from the center of the room near the front desk, there were tables and chairs stretching out to the far sides on the right and left. Emily found a nice table by the window to sit at. Rowen, having spotted where she was sitting, walked over with a large plate. He sat down across from her. She gave him a funny look.

"Let Sage sit next to you, Em. He's really missed you," Rowen whispered.

Emily's face softened as she reached across the table to pat Rowen gently on the back of his hand. In a minute, Sage emerged in the doorway with his food and drink. The pair waved him over. He walked over, came around the side of the table, and sat down with his back to the window.

The trio chatted and ate their lunch. During the middle of their lunch, the conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Emily's cell phone. She smiled sheepishly at the two of them before answering the call.

"Hello? Oh, he is? Okay. I'll come get him in…" Emily glanced at her watch. "…twenty minutes. Yes, thank you for calling. Bye."

Emily pressed the End Call button on her phone and stowed her phone away. Rowen was in the middle of chewing through his sandwich so Sage had to voice the question on their minds.

"Who was that?"

"It was the vet's office. Cooper's ready to be picked up."

/…/

Sage collapsed unceremoniously onto the futon. It had been a long first day of their visit with Emily. After lunch, they had accompanied Emily to the veterinarian to pick up Cooper. He had been very excited to see Emily after the vet had wanted to take a look at a suspicious rash on the pet's front paws; it had turned out to be nothing serious.

After taking Cooper home to the apartment, Emily had dragged them around town to a couple of the sights. They had visited the fort down by the river and the lighthouse on the island. Finally, his sister had had pity on them and brought them home. Rather than fix a home cooked meal, they had called out for pizza and breadsticks.

While chowing down on dinner, they had watched a movie on the flat screen Tom and Emily shared. Once the movie was over, Emily had gathered up their plates and trash to put it away in the kitchen. Rowen had dragged himself off the couch to retire for the night after wishing Sage a good night.

I'm surprised we lasted as long as we did, Sage thought with his mind on jetlag.

Emily knelt down by the couch to hug her brother and wish him a good night. She stood up and started to walk out of the room when her brother's voice stopped her. The young woman turned around to find him now sitting up.

"Yeah, Sage?" Emily said.

"I…I'm happy to be here," Sage replied.

"And I'm glad to have you here. Rowen, too. Get some sleep, big brother," Emily said before disappearing into her room.

A quiet sigh escaped Sage as he closed his eyes and brought his hands up to his face. He had six days before he and Rowen would be leaving on a flight back to home. He had six days to tell his sister that she–

"Unh!"

His head snapped up when he felt something soft brush against his arm. Cooper stood next to the futon with a tennis ball in his mouth. Sage smiled as he took the ball from the White German Shepherd with the shake of his head.

"It's late, Coop, and I'm tired. Time for bed," he told the two year old dog.

The dog let out a quiet whine until Sage told the dog where Rowen was. The dog excitedly backed up from his spot between the futon and coffee table before dashing into Emily's bedroom. Sage heard someone, probably Rowen, say "Oof!" after he heard the sound of the large dog jumping onto the bed.

With his head down on his pillow and eyes closed, Sage smiled.

"Got to love that dog," he murmured before allowing himself to drift off to sleep.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR

**Author's Note: Not sure when the next Chapter will be up. Might be up soon, depending on what TS Isaac decides to do with Florida.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Stardust2001: **Cooper's pretty awesome, isn't he? I got you thinking which that's a good thing.

**Vampire Ronin:** *looks at last chapter* Oops. Must have accidentally deleted it. It's not going to be nearly as bad in the beginning, but then in further chapters the…news will start to get to Emily. I'm trying not to give too much away. Yes, I am a Florida resident. I was on the opposite (ocean) coast yet I got more rain than pals on the Gulf coast.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am having a Hell of a week with TS Isaac having dumped a ton of rain on me and me being sick today. Had a rash of bad luck with no soup in the house and then spilled the soup I bought all over my kitchen counter, cabinet and floor. I took that as a sign that I need to update my story. Enjoy!**

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER FIVE

The sky was still dark with the feeling of night when Emily rose from her bed. She grabbed a set of clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. After using the restroom and changing out of her pajamas, Emily walked back into her room. She wanted to frown at the sight she found, yet she couldn't help but smile.

Her boyfriend slept on his back with more than half the covers pulled up around him. Laid out across his stomach and effectively pinning him down to the bed was her overprotective White German Shepherd. She knew she had her brother to blame for the whole thing. It was no wonder now why one of the conditions of Rowen sleeping in her room was Cooper being in the room as well.

She pulled on her sneakers and tied her shoelaces tight. When she stood up, she grabbed her iPod and keys.

"Coop," she whispered in a quiet voice.

The dog lifted his head and turned his head around to look at his owner.

"Jogging time," she whispered.

The dog's ears perked up and he wagged his tail happily before carefully standing up so as not to disturb the sleeping ronin. Cooper jumped down from the bed and followed Emily out of the bedroom. Her brother was still fast asleep on the futon with his back to her and the covers pulled so far up she only could only see his hair.

Rolling her eyes, Emily poked her head in Tom's room to make sure her roommate had actually made it back from work. Sure enough the college junior was fast asleep on his bed, but his covers were kicked off and he looked cold. Having pity on her roommate, Emily crept in, grabbed the covers and tugged them up to cover him up to his stomach.

She started to turn around and leave when an arm shot out around her waist and pulled her down onto the bed. She turned around in the embrace to look down at the sleepy gaze of her roommate.

"**Thank you, roommate. You're a sweetheart. Run away and marry me?**" he signed with a small smile.

Emily laughed as she tapped him on the nose with her finger.

"**You're welcome, Tom, but you know it would never last. Go back to sleep,**" Emily signed.

"**Okay.**"

Closing his eyes, Tom feigned sleep while keeping a firm grasp around Emily's waist. She tried to stand up, but to no avail. She let out a loud huff before turning around in Tom's arm to poke him in the arm. He made no motion that he had even felt the touch. So Emily did the next logical thing; she poked him in the side just below the ribs.

This caused her to get the reaction she wanted. Tom's grip slackened and his eyes opened to reveal an annoyed look. She tapped him gently on the cheek as she stood and walked towards the door.

SMACK! Emily's face scrunched up as she looked down and behind her. A small, hard stuffed turtle had smacked her in the back of the head and was now lying on the ground. Tom had his eyes closed, but a sly smile on his face until Emily wiped it off by chucking the turtle at his head. It made a loud thud sound as it bounced roughly off his forehead.

Emily dashed out his door and closed it behind her before Tom could turn it into an all-out war. She met Cooper at the door and they quietly left the apartment together. They walked down the stairs together to stand in the grass where Cooper emptied his bladder and Emily did some stretches. Once done, Emily pulled her headphones out to place them on her ears[1] and put on the radio on her iPod.

"Come on, Coop!" Emily called.

Cooper trudged over to her so they could start walking side-by-side down the sidewalk. The apartment complex had a layout that included a wide circle of disconnected pieces of sidewalk then led back through a swampy area with woods where the tennis courts and a kids playground was. Emily fell into pace as the radio DJ finished talking and the first song came on.

_Do you ever feel like a plastic bag_

_Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?_

_Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin_

_Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?_

They hadn't gone far when the pair picked up the pace by shifting from walking to jogging. Because it was so early in the morning, Emily didn't keep Cooper on a leash. Then again a lot of people in the apartment complex, including the people who worked in the leasing office, adored the pair.

_Do you ever feel already buried deep?_

_Six feet under screams, but no one seems to hear a thing_

_Do you know that there's still a chance for you_

'_Cause there's a spark in you?_

_You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine_

_Just own the night like the 4__th__ of July_

'_Cause baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, show 'em what you're worth_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_As you shoot across the sky_

As the lyrics flowed through her ears and she felt Cooper's hot breath hitting her pants leg, Emily thought back to last night. She couldn't forget the look on her brother's face when he had called her name. His face had registered that he had wanted to say something other than what he had said. It bothered her because Sage had never had any trouble telling her something before.

A million thoughts shot through her head as she turned her jogging into a quick sprint. Cooper picked up his speed to match her pace for pace.

_Baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, let your colors burst_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_You're gonna leave 'em falling down_

_You don't have to feel like a waste of space_

_You're original, cannot be replaced_

_If you only knew what the future holds_

_After a hurricane comes a rainbow_

Was there something wrong at home? Had their Grandfather deteriorated further in health? Was there something wrong with another member of the family? Could her mother or father have had an accident at home? Or was there something wrong with the ronins?

Emily slowed her pace back down to a gentle jog. She loved the cool breeze that coasted over her face. It was the end of October, but Florida being Florida only dropped the temperature into the low 60s. Emily wore comfortable sweatpants with a short sleeved shirt and her gloves cut off at mid-finger.

_Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed_

_So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road_

_Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow_

_And when it's time, you'll know_

_You gotta ignite the light and let it shine_

_Just own the night like the 4__th__ of July_

'_Cause baby you're a firework_

_Come on, show 'em what you're worth_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_As you shoot across the sky_

_Baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, let your colors burst_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_You're gonna leave 'em falling down_

_Boom, boom, boom_

_Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon_

_It's been inside of you, you, you_

_And now it's time to let it through_

Cooper slowed down to a walk beside her and Emily followed suit. As their walk continued to slow down, Emily scratched Cooper behind his ears. He rubbed his head against her pants leg before shaking his head with a loud sneeze.

"God bless you."

'_Cause baby you're a firework_

_Come on, show 'em what you're worth_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_As you shoot across the sky_

_Baby, you're a firework_

_Come on, let your colors burst_

_Make 'em go, oh, oh, oh_

_You're gonna leave 'em falling down_

_Boom, boom, boom_

_Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon_

_Boom, boom, boom_

_Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon_

Emily and Cooper made several laps around the perimeter of the apartment complex.

When the two finished jogging, the sun had just started peaking over the horizon as they returned to the apartment.

…

_We're the kids in America, whoa_

_We're the kids in America, whoa_

_Everybody live for the music around_

Emily knew that Cooper was a special dog to be able to keep up with her when she moved as fast as the ronins. About two weeks after her abduction, Emily had found Cooper on Mia's doorstep. He didn't have a collar or tags and the veterinarian she had taken him to hadn't been able to find a microchip. She had tried to find his owner, but no one ever came for him.

It had been a big surprise when Cye had spotted the dog for the first time (he had been visiting his family when Cooper had first shown up). He had explained to Emily the original appearance of the dog when she had been captured. After hearing about it, she had decided Cooper would stay with her. It hadn't taken much to convince her parents to allow her to keep the dog, especially with her brother supporting her.

I almost wonder if he is something more than a purebred, Emily pondered.

When they returned to the apartment, Emily found that all three guys were still fast asleep. She poured some kibble into Cooper's food dish and patted Cooper on the back. Emily disappeared into her room for a fresh set of clothes before she locked herself in the bathroom. She took a nice, long shower to soothe her muscles and mind.

Thank the gods I had midterms before Sage and Rowen arrived, Emily thought.

Otherwise, she would have had more on her mind. Emily poured the conditioner into her hand and ran it through her hair. Then she shook her head under the shower head and ran a hand through her hair a couple of times. After she was thoroughly waterlogged, Emily stepped out and dried off.

She changed into a fresh pair of blue jeans and a Pineview College t-shirt. Rather than blow dry her hair, Emily opted to let it dry slowly on its own. Emily pulled a glove on over her right hand; however, she paused with her left hand.

Though slightly smaller than the original cut, there was still a diagonal line of a scar showing through the center. It was light in color and half a millimeter wide in size. On rare occasion, she would feel a slight pang of phantom pain emanating from the scar. Even with the two years behind her, Emily could still remember the cause of her scar; the before, during, and after.

Choosing not to dwell on that thought, Emily pulled her other glove on and closed the strap.

She left the bathroom, tossed her jogging clothes into her laundry basket and walked to the kitchen. She started pulling out various food items to begin cooking breakfast. Usually, it would be Tom's turn to cook breakfast, but he deserved to have a day off since he had worked late.

She was in the middle of flipping pancakes when a strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist. She thought for a moment that it might have been Tom, but she knew better when she felt the person lay their head down on top of hers and lean against her.

"This is certainly a surprise. You're the last person I thought would be up after me. Did you sleep well?" Emily asked.

Rowen made a sound that seemed positive. Emily chuckled. She'd forgotten that her boyfriend wasn't very verbal in the morning until he was fed.

"I'll fix you up a plate. Go find a spot at the dinner table. What would you like to drink?" Emily inquired.

"Mffph," Rowen mumbled before reluctantly moving away.

Emily heard him pull a chair out and plop down onto his seat. She grabbed a plate and dished out a pancake, scrambled eggs and some bacon. She put the other pancakes on a plate and turned off the stove, making sure to turn the handle of the pan inwards.

Emily set the plate down in front of Rowen who mumbled his gratitude. He let out an extremely positive sound when a cup of hot coffee made an appearance on the table in front of him. Emily shook her head with the roll of her eyes as she sat down with her own plate of food. Emily was only halfway done with her pancake when her brother slid into a seat next to her.

Smiling, she stood up and served him a breakfast plate. When she turned around, she found her roommate sitting in her spot with a wide smile on her face. She gave him a small, playful glare as she set the plate down in front of Sage.

"I asked him how was work and he stared at me funny," Sage said.

Emily frowned. That didn't sound like Tom unless…Emily whipped around and slapped Tom loudly in the arm. He feigned a hurt expression while holding his arm. She didn't need to be on the other side of Tom to know he wasn't wearing his hearing aid.

"_**You promised! You told me you'd wear your hearing aid so they could communicate with you without needing me to interpret all the time,**_" Emily scolded him.

"**My battery died,**" Tom explained.

The only reason the other two men knew what Tom had signed was that Emily had voiced for him when he had signed. Apparently, Emily didn't want them to be privy to what she had to say because she turned off her voice and her hands started flying.

When she was done, Tom stared at her with wide eyes.

"**You should wash your hands after what you just said,**" Tom signed.

"**I don't care. They didn't understand me. What I said is true. Now you can get your own plate!**"

With that said, Emily stomped over to a drawer and yanked it open. She picked up a small packet, slammed it closed and stormed off to Tom's room. The two visitors stared at Tom worried as he dished out his breakfast. From personal experience, they knew it wasn't wise to anger Emily. Tom smiled sheepishly at them.

"It's okay. Emily's not really mad at me," Tom told them as he sat in Emily's seat.

A minute later, Emily reemerged from Tom's bedroom with his hearing aid in hand. She walked over to his left side and put his hearing aid on his left ear as though he were a child. Tom simply sat there chewing on his bacon. Surprisingly, Rowen didn't feel an ounce of jealousy. It seemed like the two were very good friends and the motions seemed natural as though it were normal routine.

He watched in fascination as Emily proceeded to do a sound check. It seemed like a little game with Emily saying words from behind a hand covering her mouth and Tom would repeat the words. Without warning, Cooper sat down behind Tom and let out a single, loud bark. The older teen jumped about a foot in the air. Without turning around, Tom pointed over his shoulder and said, "Dog."

Emily nodded before taking her seat next to Rowen. The four ate in silence with a few words until their plates were empty. Rowen and Sage felt comfortable chatting with Tom since Emily had given them a few tips beforehand. Speak in a normal, clear voice with no wide exaggerations on words; use direct eye contact; and be prepared repeat yourself.

"What's your major, Tom?" Rowen asked.

"_**I'm a Photojournalism major. I work for the school paper, The Phoenix,**_" Tom answered.

Emily had encouraged her roommate to sign while he spoke to help them learn along the way.

"That's…**miss**," Rowen replied, trying to use the right sign for cool.

On their flight over, Rowen had flipped through a few American Sign Language (ASL) books. Emily clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in her laughter. Tom let out a short chuckle before showing him the correct way to sign cool. The sign for miss ("to miss someone") and cool were closely linked. The sign for miss was bringing your pointer finger to your chin and the sign for cool was a hooked pointer finger at the jaw and twisted it out to the right (if you're right-handed).

"_**I'm sorry,**_" Rowen said.

Tom reached across Emily to pat Rowen on the arm.

"_**It's cool. You're trying so that counts,**_" Tom said before turning to Emily. "_**What do you have planned for today? Should I make dinner for one or four?**_"

"_**I have class soon. After that, I'm coming back here for these two. We'll be gone most of the day, but we should be back for dinner,**_" Emily replied.

Soon the four separated with Tom returning to his room to relax while Emily instructed the guys to wear jeans when she returned later.

"Why?" Sage asked, his eyebrows narrowed in confusion.

"It's a surprise. Trust me. You're both gonna want to wear jeans. If you don't, well…let's just say it's a requirement for leaving this apartment with me," Emily replied.

The two were wary of Emily now, but both chose to change into jeans. Emily grabbed up her backpack and dashed for the door when she spotted the time.

/…/

"This was a great idea, Em!"

The surprise had turned out to be a horseback ride down a long trail that included a trip along the beach. Sage was riding a dark brown mare while Rowen rode a paint colored gelding of brown and white. Emily rode an auburn colored mare.

"What did you say their names were again?" Sage called up to Emily.

He and Rowen were trailing behind Emily who had urged her mare into a short trot across the sand.

"Cheyenne and Drake. And my girl's name is Amber," Emily called.

Sage smiled as he leaned forward to pat Cheyenne on the neck. He held the reins in a firm grip before kicking his legs against the horse's side and clicked his tongue. Cheyenne broke out into a canter to catch up with Emily and Amber. Rowen urged Drake to follow after them so the three of them were all riding alongside each other.

"So do you have any big plans for Halloween?" Rowen asked Emily.

"I'm finishing up everything for my costume tomorrow. You two brought your costumes, right?" Nod. "Great! Tom's school club has a tradition every year to celebrate the holiday. You guys are going to love it!"

Rowen let his right hand fall to his jeans pocket where he felt the outline of his ring. Halloween was Emily's favorite holiday and he planned to propose to her that night. Meanwhile, Sage was still trying to figure out how to break his family news to Emily. He was quickly running out of days to tell Emily.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

**Oooh. The big news should be revealed soon.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Guest: **Thank you. It feels so nice to write and have people tell me they like it. The proposal took quite some time to write.

**Vampire Ronin:** Thanks so much! Yeah, I was on the east coast. Wow! I have to stop writing late at night and need to be a little more careful with my editing. I usually do pretty good, considering I don't have a beta reader. I love that song, too! I saw Madagascar 3 and that song has been stuck in my head ever since. Horseback riding can be a lot of fun!

**Guest (jerseygurl02):** Thank you. The new chapters will be up in spurts between reviews and my free days. Plus, I've discovered that I tend to get more reviews if I wait a little longer for reviews to come in.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

**Author's Note: Just wanted to give everyone a fair warning that the beginning of this chapter gets a tad bit sad. And this is the chapter with the proposal. Enjoy!**

CHAPTER SIX

_The city was deserted. Buildings were torn apart with windows blown out and small fires had broken out. Emily walked through the city alone and her eyes scanned the area. She cupped her hands to her mouth before shouting._

"_Sage! Rowen! Guys, where are you?"_

_Her voice carried over the deserted area and echoed off the walls. She gasped as she looked down and found her brother's nodachi. The blade was broken a few inches above the hilt and the shattered pieces of the blade lay around it. Fear struck her body as she began to frantically look around._

"_SAGE!"_

"…_E…Em…"_

_Emily's head snapped around to the side when she heard a low groan. She saw a shoe sticking out from a wall where a piece of another wall was leaning on it. She dashed over there and grasped the wall with both hands. Emily was surprised when Hardrock's strength didn't come to her._

_She grunted in frustration as the wall finally gave way and fell backwards. Turning her head back around, Emily swallowed down a gasp. Her brother was sitting on the ground with his body leaning back against the remains of a building. His armor was gone, his body was battered, and there were cuts and bruises all over his face._

"_Sage," she whispered._

_She fell to her knees with tears streaming down her face. She couldn't seem to stop the bleeding or call upon her healing ability from the Halo armor._

"_Don't worry, Sage. I'll get help," Emily told him, scrambling to her feet._

_Despite his severe injuries, Sage grabbed Emily by the wrist and stopped her from leaving. With a surprisingly tight grip on her wrist, Sage gently pulled her back down to sit beside him._

"_There's no one around, Em. The others are gone. I held off as long as I could," Sage murmured._

_Emily had to sit very close to her brother to be able to hear him. His voice was raspy, obviously sore either from shouting or injury. Sage coughed, causing his whole body to wrack with pain. A small trail of blood dripped down his chin. Emily used the sleeve of her jacket to wipe it away._

"_What happened? Why isn't Halo working?" she whispered._

_A small glance at a broken piece of window revealed her tear-streaked face and what she thought was a shadow far in the background before it disappeared._

"…'_m…tired…Em…Halo…gone," Sage said, his voice starting to grow weaker._

_Emily shook her head. She pleaded with him to not go to sleep._

"_You have to stay awake. You __**can't**__ go to sleep, Sage."_

_Sage drew in another breath but it resulted in hacking coughs again. The blonde man slowly brought his sister's hand up to his cheek. The touch seemed to comfort him if the small smile was anything to go by._

"_I'm glad…I could see…one more…t…time," Sage gasped before letting out a painful groan._

_Emily felt her brother's grip on her wrist weaken. An empty feeling entered her body and she felt as if her heart was no longer in her body._

"…_yer…best sister. Take…care…of…yourself," and with one final breath, Sage's eyes fell shut forever._

_Emily released a sob as she removed her jacket to lay it over her brother. She stood up with a silent prayer on her lips and stepped away. Thunder roared above her and a flash of lightning shot across the sky._

_[He's dead because of you.]_

_Emily whipped around, her eyes darting to every moving thing in sight. It had grown darker outside and she had trouble seeing all around her._

_[They're all gone. The Ronin Warriors live no more.]_

_Emily clapped her hands over ears. She shook her head vehemently. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. The voices had to be wrong._

"_Go away. Go away. This isn't happening," she murmured._

_The voices seemed to get louder as if their owners were getting closer._

_[No one is here to save you now.]_

_A small breeze lifted a strand of her hair to float it behind her ear. She shivered from a memory of the past. This time, the voice came to her not from inside her head but right next to her ear._

"_And you're next…little light."_

/…/

Emily's eyes shot open. Her heart was beating rapidly and her mind was still on high alert. Slowly, she allowed herself to take in the sounds around her to help calm herself down. The steady breathing of her sleeping boyfriend; the rumble of the air conditioning coming on; the front door closing as her roommate returned late from work; and the quiet pitter patter of raindrops on the window.

Her heart slowed down to a normal rate. She sat up carefully so as not to disturb Rowen and Cooper. The clock next to her revealed the time as 12:08AM. She knew only one way to fully calm herself down after a nightmare. She pulled her covers back and slowly climbed out of her bed.

The young woman of eighteen padded quietly out of her room. Unknown to her friends and family, including Rowen and Sage, her nightmares had started up again a month ago. She had only had them a couple times, but they were similar to the ones Dais had sent her during her time in the dynasty. It had taken her a while to figure out he had been the culprit.

Emily crossed through the living room where her brother was fast asleep on the couch. She turned right and walked into the solarium they used as a study room. There were two sliding wooden doors she closed behind her and locked. The room consisted of a few pieces of furniture.

There was a small desk and chair in the left corner closest to the sliding doors and a small bookcase sat in the opposite corner. There was a big arm chair in front of the large window in the solarium. Paintings and pictures of lighthouses, fall scenes, a C-130, and wolves adorned the walls.

Emily knelt down beside the bookcase to reach behind it to pull out a hidden photo album. She walked over to the armchair where she pulled her legs up to sit crisscross and opened the small album. The book consisted of several clear sleeves of 4x6 photos with space for two photos for each side of the sleeve.

The first few photos consisted of her and her family. There was a family photo of the three sisters and one brother, her and Satsuki playing the piano together, and Sage building a tree house with her. Then the photos turned to moments with friends: sitting at lunch together, camping, rock climbing, and more.

The last few pages were of her and the ronins. The pictures were of them picnicking, training in the yard, her giving White Blaze a bath (and her covered in suds), and cooking in the kitchen with Cye. All the pictures of her and Rowen were in a separate album she kept in her room. However, she did keep a few in the album she was leafing through.

One picture had been taken _after_ they had finished painting Mia's bedroom as a birthday surprise. There was paint all over their clothes and faces and Rowen was standing behind her with a paint can raised over her head; he had been pretending to go and dump it over her head. Another photograph was Rowen helping Emily wash her brother's Camaro.

As she flipped to the back, she came across a photo no one knew about. She had taken it on a whim. It served as a reminder of how real the situation with the dynasty had once been. It was a photo of the three snoozing warlords after they had eaten her Grandfather's famous cold-flu casserole. While Emily stared at the secret photograph, she thought back to her nightmare.

Over the last two years, her nightmares had varied. At first, when she was still within the dynasty, she had dreamt about scenarios like that of the one she had just had. After the dynasty had fallen, her nightmares had been mostly memories of the dynasty and warlords and her imagination extending the interactions with the three men. Over the last few weeks, the nightmares were scenarios of the ronins dying or not being able to find them. Yet the strangest part was that she appeared the same way she looked two years ago.

It's odd that my nightmares don't show me wearing my gloves or the color in my hair, Emily thought. But maybe it's just my imagination keeping me the same way I was when I was in the dynasty.

She stowed the picture away behind another photograph and stood up to hide the album behind the bookcase again. Emily stepped over to the window where she looked out over the sights in the apartment complex. She saw the parking lot full of cars, the dark buildings with sleeping occupants, a streetlight emitting a bright orange light, and the nearly full moon descending in the night sky.

The sound of something scooting across the carpet made her snap her attention over to the solarium doors. A miniature whiteboard had just been slid under the solarium doors. Written on it was the following message: _Are you awake, Emily?_ She instantly recognized the handwriting as she picked the mini whiteboard up. An expo marker quickly followed behind it.

Emily sat down on the floor on her knees. She wiped the board off with her sleeve and wrote back _Yes. Is something wrong, Tom?_ She slid the mini whiteboard and marker back under the doors and waited for a response. It didn't take long for the board to come back. _Let me in?_

Emily sighed as she slid the mini board and the marker away. She stood up, unlocked the solarium doors, and slid open one of the doors to let Tom through. Poking her head out, Emily noticed her brother was still fast asleep. Once she closed the door, she turned around and joined Tom on the arm chair. They each sat on the arms of the chair with their feet up on the seat and their knees almost touching.

"**What's wrong, Emily?**" Tom signed, deciding not to speak while signing.

"**I had a bad dream. It's nothing,**" Emily signed.

Tom frowned. "**Are you sure?**"

Emily nodded slowly before transitioning into shaking her head back and forth.

"**Do you remember me telling you about how special my brother is? And his friends?**"

After the second night in a row of nightmares, Tom who had thankfully been wearing his hearing aid had heard Emily screaming and had woken her. After helping her realize where she was, Tom had questioned her on it. Emily had decided to share the secret of the armors with him. He had been a little skeptical at first, but had believed her when she had taken him out into the woods nearby and punched quite a hole into a large boulder without harming herself.

"**I remember,**" Tom signed. "**Was the bad dream about them?**"

Emily nodded. She proceeded to explain the nightmare and Tom did nothing but listen patiently. When she was done, Emily felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The weight of keeping the nightmares a secret from her family had been heavy.

"**Maybe you should write them down in a journal**," Tom suggested.

"**I might do that. Thank you. You're a great roommate, Tom,**" Emily signed.

"**I try.**"

/…/

"OW! You're going to poke my eye out!" Rowen yelped.

"Well, stop moving around, Ro. Or I _will_ stick you in the eye for real," Sage warned him.

Sage was helping put the finishing touches on his costume. It had been a good amount of time since the two had celebrated Halloween by dressing in costumes. They had been partying for years with friends, but never dressed up for the holiday.

Rowen was dressed in gray clothes and make up that allowed him to look like a ghost. Satsuki had shown Sage how to use face paint to complete his costume. She had gotten the idea from a magazine article she had read recently. Sage was dressed as a pirate, complete with a hat. Sage finished up with the paint and allowed Rowen to turn around to look at the mirror.

"Good work, Sage," Rowen commented.

Sage nodded his head. He had done a pretty decent job for an amateur. They left the bathroom in search of Emily. She was waiting for them by the front door with Cooper and Tom. Tom was dressed as a Halloween-styled scarecrow with dark orange, swamp green, and black in colors. He had pieces of real straw sticking out from under his hat, from under patches on his sleeves, and the end of his pants.

Emily and Cooper were a tag team with their costume. Emily was dressed as Red Riding Hood with a plain, baby blue dress that was floor length covered over by a dark red cloak. She wore a plain pair of white and blue sneakers. Her normally hidden necklace stood out on the front of her dress in perfect connection with her costume. Cooper was just the right size for a wolf to complement Emily's costume.

"_**It's about time, guys. We're going to be late,**_" Emily said.

Both shrugged. There wasn't much they could say in response to that. They were equally surprised by the absence of Emily's gloves. The group left the apartment to head towards the college campus. When they arrived inside the courtyard, there was a large group of kids split up into smaller groups.

A lot of the kids had their hands up making wild motions. Emily had explained along the way that one of the school clubs had its members guide the elementary school children from the local school for the deaf through the main dormitory to celebrate Halloween. The kids were all dressed in costumes and had something to carry candy in.

Tom walked off to join his group while Emily led Rowen and Sage over to another group. Their group consisted of six young boys and their school chaperone. Two boys latched onto each young adult as Emily led them all to the ground floor dorms. Their group was assigned to start at the bottom on the left then go up to the last floor and over and down.

Emily had a pair of second grade identical twins – Superman and Batman – who walked on either side of her signing excitedly. Two short wizards were patiently watching Rowen intently as he slowly signed an answer for a question they had asked. Sage had the pleasure of having a pirate and robot that were the tallest and oldest of the group walking with him.

The dorms whose residents were handing out candy had signs up outside their doors, but it seemed most were sitting out in the halls waiting for the children. The boys were all excited as they approached each group and signed **Trick or Treat** while Emily interpreted. The guys couldn't believe how much candy the boys were collecting.

"**I have a lot of candy!**" the boy dressed as Superman signed.

Emily smiled big while moving a closed fist up and down like a nodding head. Then she cupped her hands together and shook them a little.

"_**Congratulations**_," she cheered happily.

"_**You good ghost**_**,**" one of the wizard said, complimenting Rowen on his costume.

"_**Thank you**_**,**" Rowen signed slowly, bringing a flat hand down from his chin.

Usually, Rowen was only good around Yuli. He tended to have awkward moments around children because he was never sure what to talk to them about. Thankfully, the boys carried the conversation well and helped Rowen improve his signing.

Before long the group had made it all the way through the dorm and back down to the courtyard. The boys' pillow cases were so full of candy it was a wonder the material hadn't have split open. The boys in their group all hugged Emily and signed goodbye to her and Rowen before the two departed. Rowen had asked Emily to join him for a nighttime stroll down by the riverfront where the fort was.

Since the college campus was near the river, it didn't take long for them to arrive by the grassy walkaway that lay between the fort walls and the outer wall that hid the river from view. They walked close together hand in hand, quietly with no words between them.

Without warning, Rowen broke out in a big grin as he pulled Emily into the shadows of the fort. At the same time, the full moon disappeared behind a gathering of clouds. Rowen ran a finger lovingly down Emily's forehead and nose, causing her to giggle.

"Close your eyes," he whispered.

She gave him a side smile. "Why?"

Rowen stepped closer to lean his forehead on hers. He didn't give her an answer yet Emily chose to close her eyes. She felt him wrap his arms around her then there was a whoosh of air that made her hair blow up. Rowen kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "You can open them now."

Slowly, Emily opened her eyes and gasped. The two of them were in the sky, surrounded by clouds that they appeared to be standing on as if the clouds were solid ground. The full moon was so large it seemed as though she could reach out and actually touch it. Emily could feel the warm presence of the Strata armor as Rowen used it to keep them up in the air.

Rowen stepped back so there was a little space between them and held her hands in his.

"I love you," Rowen whispered.

Emily smiled. Rowen brought a lot of happiness into her life and for that she loved him more than anything else.

"I love you, too," Emily whispered back.

Emily looked all around her with a sense of awe. Rowen had only taken her up in the sky one other time. It had been a few months after the kidnapping and Emily had had a particularly nasty nightmare. Rowen had called upon the Strata armor to take her up into the sky to help calm her down.

"It's beautiful up here. The stars and moon seem so close," Emily said quietly.

Rowen smiled. "The brightest star I see in the sky tonight…is you."

The two shared a soft kiss that took both their breaths away. They separated again with Rowen bringing Emily's hands up to kiss her knuckles. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Some of the best times of my life have been spent with you, Emily. You, like your brother, saw more than just a bookworm with the inability to wake before ten in the morning." Emily shook her head with a small snort. "_You_ saw me. _You_ have always lifted me up into the sky, Em. Not the armor."

Emily furrowed her brows in confusion. Rowen was starting to get a little too gushy which was never a good sign.

He couldn't possibly be breaking up with me, Emily thought. _Could he?_

She bit back a gasp when he knelt down on one knee. He gazed up at her as if she held his whole world in her hands.

"You're my second half, Emily. I can't imagine a life without you. So, Emily Annalise Date, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

This time, Emily couldn't bite back her gasp. Her mouth dropped open slightly as she stared at him speechless.

"Rowen. I…I…uh…" Emily grew silent with a tiny, awkward smile.

Rowen froze up. Oh no.

END OF CHAPTER SIX

**Dear Readers and Reviewers,**

**The first story was the hook. Now I'm doing my best to keep you on the edge of your seats. Much love, people!**

**Sincerely,**

**Tigergirl**

**P.S. Yes, I too, get annoyed with the cliffhangers and To Be Continued…moments. But at least I update and finish my stories. And, yes, I know I'm evil. Hehehe**

**P.S.S. Give me reviews and you may get the second half of the proposal by Sunday.**


	7. Author's Note not a new chp

**Author's Note**

**Sorry, but this is not a new chapter. I'm out of town for the weekend to spend time with family.**

**Plus, I want at least two more reviews to post the new chapter. The more, the merrier!**

**~Tigergirl**


	8. Chapter 7

Cye: *pops into the room, dragging the other ronins with him* Hello, everyone! Tigergirl is taking a break from commenting on the reviews and has "volunteered" us to comment instead.

Rowen: *sits down with a frown on his face* I just want Emily's answer.

Ryo: *frowns* Emily's answer to what?

Rowen: I asked Emily…*Sage plops down next to Rowen and slaps a hand over his mouth*

Sage: Rowen! Let's not spoil the surprise for them. Now, who's answering the first review?

Kento: *raises his hand up* Oh, oh! I want to start. Tigergirl promised me apple pie after this. The first review comes from our guest, **jerseygur102.** **Hey, hey! We, and that includes our author, love that you loved the chapter. And that she's a great writer! It makes her feel so good to know people like her writing.**

Cye: And it makes her go easier on us in the story. *sigh*

Rowen: *mumbles to himself* Apparently, you haven't heard what she has in store for us in the third story of this series.

Sage: *gives Rowen an odd look* Keep it to yourself, Rowen. Or Tigergirl will prolong the waiting. This next one comes from **horselovers. You'll find out the answer for sure just below. As for the secret, I'll [Sage] be confessing towards the end of the chapter as well. Thank you, thank you! The author is really enjoying writing this story.**

Rowen: *snatches up a paper* Okay, okay! Here's my participation part, Tiger. **RAMBO112, got to love the love! Will try to update more often. Trying to put up a new chapter every weekend or so.**

Ryo: *looks at paper* Either I have another reviewer with the same penname or we have a reviewer that has left two reviews.

Rowen: JUST READ IT!

Ryo, Sage, Kento and Cye: o_O

Rowen: *grumbles*

Ryo: Ooookay. Here's the word from **jerseygurl02 (can't tell if that's a 1 or an Ll). The continuance of Rowen and Emily is just below in this chapter. Ooh, that would have been a good idea. TG didn't think about that one. And she loves the reviews! Hoping to keep up the awesome work. **

Kento: *jumps up* Okay, Tigergirl! All the reviews have been addressed. Where's my pie? *runs out of the room*

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER SEVEN

Emily was stunned. She hadn't been expecting this. Emily had thought if her and Rowen _eventually_ reached the point of matrimony in their relationship that it would have been post-graduation. And by post-graduation, she meant _college_ graduation. She had been silent for about a minute or two and felt so bad because she could sense her boyfriend's anxiety rapidly increasing.

Suddenly, something flashed across Rowen's eyes and he started chuckling. Emily's confused frown intensified when the blue-haired boy shot up to his feet, grabbed her around the waist, and swung her around. After twirling Emily around a few times, Rowen set her back down on her feet.

"Ro? Have you lost it?" Emily asked. "I didn't even give you an answer yet."

Rowen surprised her even further by bringing his hands up to cup her face and drew her into the most passionate kiss of her life. When he stepped back, Emily was left slightly dizzy.

If he keeps this up, I'll have to admit him to an asylum, Emily thought.

"Em, I don't want to marry you _now_. I want us to wait until _after_ you graduate. I just wanted to propose to you and have a long engagement. I have your family's blessing, love. Sage included! They all know I don't intend for us to marry until you're done with your schooling," Rowen confessed.

Emily jerked her hands out of his grasp and slapped him hard in the arm.

"Why the Hell didn't you tell me that to begin with? Here I was, thinking you wanted to marry me _this_ year! You crazy smurf!" Emily exclaimed, choosing to take another whack at him.

He playfully caught her arm and spun her around so her back was pressed against his chest. He laughed cheerfully as he held Emily tightly in a warm embrace.

"Would that be a yes?" he whispered in her ear teasingly.

Emily laughed as she looked over her shoulder at him. There was a sparkle in her eyes that shined brighter than any of the stars in the sky. It made Rowen love her all the more.

"Nothing would make me happier than to walk through the rest of my life with you. Yes. My answer is yes. I love you, Rowen."

"I love you, too, Emily."

Rowen stood there wrapped around Emily with his head lying on top of hers. Emily closed her eyes but opened them when she felt something smooth against the back of her hand. Rowen brought his hand up to reveal the special ring he had made. Emily stared in awe as her now fiancé slipped the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand.

"It's…beautiful, Rowen. How did you find such a ring?" Emily whispered.

"I made it." Emily gaped down at her ring. "The band is made from one of my arrows and you see the misty silver there in the center?" She nodded. "That's stardust."

She marveled at the ring. It meant all the more to her that Rowen had put so much thought into giving her the perfect ring. He had made the ring with the power of his heart and his mystical armor. There was only one thing that puzzled her.

"Your arrows are gold. Why is the ring silver?" Emily murmured.

"Well, I know ya prefer silver so I used a combination of the arrow, the clouds, and stardust to change it to silver. I hope that's okay."

Emily turned around in Rowen's arms to lean up and peck him lightly on the nose. She told him it was perfect the way it was.

/…/

When Emily and Rowen had finally returned from the sky, they had told Sage and Tom the good news. Emily had been surprised for about the third time that night when Tom had picked her up by the waist to lift her off her feet. It had taken Sage's patented older brother glare to convince Tom to put her back down. The four of them had celebrated with pizza and drinks.

They had all slept in late as the second part of the celebration. Now Emily was sitting on her laptop setting up the webcam with Mia. The picture came in clear and Emily was able to see Mia perfectly.

"Hey Mia!" Emily said happily, waving her hand in front of her.

"Emily! Oh, thank goodness it worked! Rowen called last night and said we should web chat with you today," Mia replied.

"Yeah. I have big news! Are the guys home? I want to tell all of you together," Emily told her.

Emily could see Mia's inquisitive look clearly through the computer screen but listened as the

woman turned her head and called for the guys. Cye appeared on screen and told Mia that Ryo and Kento were cleaning up a mess in the laundry room. Mia let out a loud sigh and turned back to smile weakly at Emily.

"I better go help them. Be right back," Mia told her.

She shook her head with a chuckle as Mia left and Cye took her place at the computer chair. He smiled and asked how she was. They started catching up with each other. Sage appeared from the kitchen and sat down on the couch next to Emily. She shifted the laptop perched on her lap so Sage could be seen.

Emily tried to finish her story when the apartment phone started ringing. She passed the laptop off to Sage so she could stand and answer it.

"Hello? Hey, Ro. Did you and Tom get the doughnuts? Huh? Security won't let you in the gate? UGH!"

Emily pulled the receiver away from her face to glare at nothing in general.

"There's apparently a new guy at the security desk and they're doing maintenance on the resident's side of the gate. And it sounds like Tom's getting in an argument with him," Emily explained to her brother.

Sage told Emily to go ahead and take care of it. He would stay on the web chat with Cye and make sure they were all present for when Emily gave them the good news. Emily told Rowen she'd be right back down before hanging up the phone. She grabbed up her cell phone and keys before darting out the door.

"Is she gone?" Cye asked.

Sage nodded. Cye let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume her news isn't the news you had for her," Cye said quietly, as if afraid one of the others would walk in the room and overhear them.

Slowly, Sage shook his head.

"I haven't even told her yet," Sage sighed.

Cye's eyebrows shot up and his mouth threatened to drop open.

"Sage? Your plane leaves in three days. Just when were you planning to tell her?!" Cye exclaimed, making sure not to raise his voice too high.

"I was going to tell her this afternoon. I've been trying to figure out the best way to tell her," Sage told him.

They let the conversation drop when everyone came into the picture. Emily came through the front door with Tom and Rowen right behind her. Ryo and Kento appeared behind Cye along with Mia. Sage waved the engaged couple over to dish out their good news.

Before either one could say anything, Mia spotted the new addition to Emily's hand and let out a high pitched squeal. The guys jerked backwards with alarmed looks on their faces.

"Oh, sweet mercy! When did he ask you?" Mia shrieked.

The three ronins suddenly knew what she was talking about as three sets of eyes fell on the ring glistening on Emily's finger. The questions started flying and everyone started talking excitedly. Sage hung back slightly as did Cye. The two shared a quick look.

[Now I understand why you waited. You wanted Rowen to propose first.]

Sage didn't question how he could still speak to Cye through their armor's mind link from such a distance. He left the engaged couple to answer questions and he entered his sister's room.

[Rowen already knew I planned to wait. I told him about it on the flight.]

He could feel Cye let out a silent sigh.

[Don't wait much longer, Sage. And be _completely_ honest with her. That's all I can tell you.]

Sage released a silent sigh of his own as he stooped down to pick up some papers on the floor.

[Thanks, Cye. I'll let you know how it goes.]

Sage looked more carefully at the papers in his hands and frowned. The papers were scanned copies of newspaper articles. It was a total of three papers. The first article was an old report on a study done on the increase of attacks in the U.S. on women. The second and third articles were two separate police reports on recent attacks.

One article was about an attack on a young blonde woman, 21, in California. She was believed to have been stalked before being attacked and left in the woods near her college campus. There were no leads because the woman had no recollection of her attackers or the attack in itself. There had been bruising on her upper arms and a twisted ankle.

The second article was almost exactly the same except the young woman was 19, she was in Wisconsin, and her blonde hair was a few shades lighter. The articles disturbed Sage greatly. Their descriptions matched Emily almost to a tee except she was younger and she had the black coloring in her hair now.

He stood up with the papers just as Emily came in the room. He held them up with the print facing his sister.

"What are these?" Sage asked.

Emily had to step closer and take the papers from him to see what he was talking about.

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me. I need to finish the paper for this class." Emily picked her head up to look at her brother. "Professor Douglas gave us copies of the articles in class last week. He found the similarities between the two interesting."

Sage let the matter drop and smiled weakly at Emily.

"Let's go for a walk, Em."

/…/

Sage and Emily had walked across town, over the bridge and to a nice, big park. Emily was sitting on a bench waiting for Sage to talk. It was obvious from the silence that he wanted to talk to her about something. He had spent the last minute pacing back and forth in front of the bench. Finally, he sat down beside her on the bench.

"Before we left to come visit you, mom and dad asked to speak to me. They wanted to tell me about something. Something they've known a long time," Sage started.

Emily knew better than to interrupt her brother. With slow aging, she had matured and learned when it was best not to interrupt Sage. Especially since the conversation was obviously upsetting him. As he spoke, Sage pulled out some rolled documents from his inside jacket pocket.

"After they told me, I was angry at them. I was angry at Grandfather. I was angry they hadn't told any of us. I couldn't understand why," Sage continued.

Emily opened her mouth to say something, but her eye caught sight of her name on the front page. Because of the way Sage held the documents, she could only see her first name. A shiver of dread started to worm its way up her back.

"What's wrong, Sage?" she murmured.

Sage snapped his head to the side and took one of Emily's hands in his. He forced her to lock gazes with him.

"_Nothing_ is **wrong**. You have always been a part of the family and you will _always_ be my little sister. I love you, Em, and I want you to know that," Sage said, his voice threatening to break.

"_Sage!_" Emily hissed.

This seemed to break him out of his deep thoughts. He gently passed the papers to Emily who took them with both of her hands. She unrolled the papers and read over the document. Her mouth opened but no words came out.

"I didn't know how to tell you. Mom and dad felt as though you had a right to know. You deserve to know…" Sage took a deep breath. "…you're adopted."

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN

**FAKEOUT! Just kidding. I wasn't going to leave it at just that.**

Emily looked over the papers in great detail. It was documents about her real name, her birth parents, the medical history of her parents, and her short medical history when she was an infant.

**Child's Name: Date of Birth: Time of Birth:**

Emily Annalise Wolfe June 20, 1994 3:10 A.M.

**Sex: City, Town or Location of Birth: County of Birth:**

Female

**Father's Name:**

Andrew Edward Wolfe

**Mother's Name: Maiden Name:**

Annalise Trinity Wolfe

There were spots on the birth certificate where the information was very worn out and Emily couldn't read it. The first page was a copy of her birth certificate and a signed form that made the Date Family her legal guardians. The second page was the entire medical history of her biological father. It turns out there were heart problems within the history. The third page was another medical history report but that of her mother. Her family also had a history of heart problems in addition to Alzheimer's and a few cases of cancer.

Emily laid the papers down in her lap and turned to Sage with a huff.

"I can't say this isn't a shock and it's going to take me some time to adjust to the information…" Emily's face scrunched up. "But why the Hell were you blowing this out of proportion? It doesn't change _anything_."

Sage flipped to the fourth page that held Emily's personal medical history which was very short. He pointed out her blood type in which differed from the rest of the Date's.

"None of us can donate blood for you. You have a rare blood type."

Emily flipped through all the papers again and saw that her family lineage was listed for both

sides of the family. She was part Irish from both sides of the family, little Polish, little English, part Scottish, and a little Cherokee.

I'm…adopted?

Emily looked up at the sky as if looking for something.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN

Kento: *sitting on the couch with a plate of apple pie in front of him* Time for pie! *looks up* Oh! I mean, review time! Let's hear your thoughts on the story, this chapter, the proposal, the news for Emily…

Everyone [except Kento]: All right, already! They get the picture!

Kento: *smiles* Please review. *takes a big bite out of his apple pie*


	9. Chapter 8

**horselovers:** 5 to 1 says most readers probably thought it was a serious illness, but that's the type of buildup I wanted. One where my readers are thinking it's one thing when it really turns out to be another. Thank you for the compliment. You're a great reviewer. Now the whole adoption situation will make its way fully onto the scene. Keep reading.

**jerseygurl02: **All true. Of course, Sage will forever be the big brother and reassuring, especially to his baby sister. Oooh, I've got a very observant reader/reviewer! The articles from Emily's professor will play a key role in the story, but that's all I'm saying.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER EIGHT

Emily waved goodbye as she watched Sage and Rowen board the plane. It had been a fun week and she was sad to see them go, but she knew she would see them again soon. She had six more weeks of school, including the half-week of Thanksgiving. Then she and Cooper would be home in Toyama for three weeks.

She walked out of the airport and found Tom's car. She left in no time and was on the road towards the college. Her mind drifted as she sped down the interstate.

I have enough information to take care of myself if anything serious happens medical wise. But I don't know anything about my biological parents, Emily thought.

She cared very much for her family, the family for whom she had grown up with. Yet she knew she had a right to know about where she had come from. She deserved to know more about Andrew and Annalise. As she pulled off the interstate and stopped at a red light, Emily fiddled with her necklace absentmindedly.

With having to assist at the theater all afternoon and tomorrow being Monday, Emily knew she wouldn't be able to start her search for information anytime soon. For now, she would put these thoughts on the backburner.

I've been a Date for eighteen years and, in a few years, I'll be a Hashiba. I'm only a _Wolfe_ by blood, Emily said to herself determinedly.

Emily pulled into the parking lot next to the main academic building and cut the engine. She grabbed her backpack out of the backseat, locked up Tom's car, and started jogging across campus once she touched the sidewalk. She flew up the stairs, through the rotunda, down the stairs in the courtyard and out the courtyard. She made it to the theater in no time.

Once there, she placed her backpack in the lobby where everyone else's bags were. Emily made her way onto the stage and grabbed up her equipment from a nearby desk where it had been charging. She attached her walkie talkie to her belt and put on her headset that was connected to it. The headset had a headband wrap over to the top of her head with the left end sitting just above her ear. On the right end of the headset was an earpiece that sat on her ear and had a microphone that extended almost all the way to her mouth.

Emily turned the walkie onto Channel 7 and held down the side button before speaking.

"Sky onsite and checking in," she said.

There was a short crackling on the other side of the connection and a voice spoke back to her.

"_Hear you loud and clear, Sky. We need your assistance back in wardrobe before assisting with _

_choreography. Most of the team is on break at the moment._"

Emily started walking along backstage to a back hallway that led to where the costumes were. She spoke back into the walkie as she did so.

"I can hear you fine, Hunter. Connection's working much better this week."

Emily arrived in the changing rooms where all the costumes were stored. There was an elderly woman sitting in a small rocking chair with a costume in her lap and a needle & thread in her hands.

"Good morning, dear. Saw your brother and boyfriend off already?" she asked while humming softly to a radio that was on in the room.

"Yes, Mrs. Josie. They're on the way home now. Except," Emily smiled. "Rowen's no longer just my boyfriend."

The elderly woman's gaze fell on Emily's gloved hands where the finger part had been pulled down so the ring on her left hand could be seen clearly. Her face lit up as she rocked back gently and let out a short hoot, sounding oddly like an owl.

"Congratulations! Oh, I should have seen it when you first came through the door. I had that same glow many years ago when my dear dear Edgar proposed. Now sit yourself on down and tell me all about it," she said, gesturing to a chair next to her rocking chair.

Emily sat down in the chair, but not before picking up a mixed up ball of headphones, costume jewelry and other miscellaneous items. She placed the items on her lap as she started untangling everything. As she untangled and Mrs. Josie sewed, Emily told her all about the Halloween night. She changed the details of the proposal by changing the location back to the fort.

"It felt as though I were in the clouds with the stars and moon," Emily sighed, fishing a long golden necklace from the center of the mess.

And that's probably because I was, Emily secretly said to herself.

"Ah, to be young and to have found your second half. You, my angel, indeed have _the_ glow."

The two worked on their stuff in blessed silence. Emily's thoughts drifted to what the play was about. A unique professor at the small college had been inspired by the old Disney movie series High School Musical. He had created a quirky college version in a play format. It was titled, unoriginally, College Musical.

It starred Annabelle (Elizabeth Ann) who moved from another country to the U.S. to attend her first year of college. She started out school with basic problems such as there being no room in the dormitories and having to work different jobs due to no availability in work study. From there, she started making friends with a weird group of friends including an anime artist

enthusiast, a straight-A bookworm, and a quiet, pool (billiards) shark.

It was actually quite the page-turner. There were a few musical numbers that required quite a bit of choreography. They were going to be holding the play just before winter break.

"_Hunter to Sky._"

Emily put down all the separated items on the counter and pressed the button on her walkie.

"What's up, Hunter?"

The walkie let out a loud beep that Mrs. Josie could hear as Emily took her finger off the button. She only had to wait a few seconds for a response. Emily let out a sigh as she stood up.

"Be there in a minute."

Mrs. Josie paused in her rocking and sewing to question Emily with a raised eyebrow and slight tilt of her head.

"They need me to do a sound check on the mikes. Then work with Elizabeth Ann on the choreography. I'll be back later, Mrs. Josie."

"Okay, dear. Have fun."

Emily returned to the stage where one of the other volunteers traded her headset and walkie talkie out with a hidden mike the actors used. The volunteer held the walkie up to his ear.

"Hunter wants you to test with a song. What song do you want to try?" he asked her.

Emily thought about it for a moment before telling him, "Walking in the Air."

The volunteer nodded as he walked off the stage. Emily walked around the stage as music began to play over the speakers. The volunteers and actors were spread out across the theater to determine if the microphone was working as it should be. They had been having off-on problems with the mic she was currently wearing.

_Walking in the air, floating in the sky…_

_Floating in the air…_

_We're walking in the air_

_We're floating in the moonlit sky_

_The people far below are sleeping as we fly_

In the far back row near the doors Elizabeth Ann sat watching and listening. Emily had such a beautiful voice. She didn't sing often in public yet she was very talented.

_We're holding very tight_

_I'm riding in the midnight blue_

_I'm finding I can fly so high above with you_

_Far across the world_

_The villages go by like dreams_

_The rivers and the hills_

_The forest and the streams_

Elizabeth Ann was surprised the younger blonde had not auditioned for the play. She was just bursting with talent.

_Children gaze open mouthed_

_Taken by surprise_

_Nobody down below believes their eyes_

_We're surfing in the air_

_We're swimming in the frozen sky_

_We're drifting over icy_

_mountains floating by_

_Suddenly swooping low on an ocean deep_

_Arousing of a mighty monster from its sleep_

_We're walking in the air_

_We're dancing in the midnight sky_

_And everyone who sees us greets us as we fly_

The music grew quiet and Emily's voice lowered to a silent last note on 'fly.' The actors and volunteers stood up and applauded Emily. The few in the crowd with microphones reported to Hunter that the microphone on Emily was working fine. She handed the mic back to the volunteer on stage and she waited for Elizabeth Ann to join her onstage.

"You sounded great, Sky! You have such a beautiful voice," Elizabeth Ann complimented her.

Emily blushed. It hadn't been too long ago that she wouldn't have sung in front of anyone, not even Rowen. Coming to the States to attend college gave her a new feeling of ease and helped her to dare to try new things.

"Thanks, Elizabeth Ann. So what scene do you want to work on?" Emily asked.

"Can we work on the scene with Annabelle and Casper where they're at the plaza?" Elizabeth Ann asked in return.

"The scene where they're playing shadow?" Emily asked for clarification.

Elizabeth Ann nodded. Emily agreed as she wandered off to grab the necessary props and grabbed a couple of guys to move some of the furniture props out onto the stage. The furniture props included a few round tables with chairs attached, a park bench, and a low wall that surrounded the plaza area.

"Do you mind if we start with the basics? Max pulls off moves that will put me in the hospital in a heartbeat," Elizabeth Ann protested.

"Sure. We'll start with the basics and move further up," Emily answered.

Emily started with standing straight with her legs together. She brought her arms up straight then brought them down in a move borrowed from Tai Chi. Elizabeth Ann put her legs together and copied the movement. Next, Emily clapped her hands twice in front of her and turned her body full around. Elizabeth Ann was able to copy the move easily.

Nearby, someone turned on the radio and the lyrics of Usher started resonating through the theater. Emily started using the props she had pulled that went with the character Casper. She jogged over to one of the tables, jumped up to push off the side of the table with one foot and performed a sideways, horizontal flip in the air.

Elizabeth Ann smirked before turning around and performing the same move off the table behind her. The two continued their practice game of shadow with Emily twirling two pieces that made up a pool cue in her hands. Then she tossed them to Elizabeth Ann who twirled her body around to copy the movements Emily had just done.

Emily finished up the practice by performing a breath-taking backflip in the air and landing on her hands on round edge of the table. Then she pushed herself up into a handstand with her other hand out to the side. Elizabeth Ann took one look at her and shook her head.

"I do gymnastics, dear, but I'm not that skilled. Please tell me _that's_ not one of the moves Casper does in the play. No amount of practice would get me to the point of being able to do that," Elizabeth Ann told her.

Emily grinned sheepishly as she lowered herself back down to her feet. To her companion's question, she shook her head negatively.

"Nah. Casper doesn't perform any epic moves like that. I thought I would challenge you," Emily replied.

"Well, you succeeded!"

Emily burst out laughing while holding her stomach. After that, the day quickly passed with the group breaking for lunch then holding a long afternoon rehearsal. By the time Emily returned home to the apartment on foot (Tom had taken the car home earlier), the sun had descended upon the horizon and the sky was shifting from pinkish orange to purple.

Tom was just placing dinner down at the table when Emily walked in the door. Without speaking or looking up, Tom signed to Emily.

"**Cooper was taken out and fed.**"

"_**Thanks**_**.**"

Emily went and put her stuff away before returning to join Tom for dinner. Tom had already begun eating when Emily sat down. They ate in silence for a while before Emily was finally fed up with everything. She reached across the table to wave her hand in front of Tom's face. He put his silverware down and sat back so he could give her his full attention.

"**I'm adopted,**" Emily confessed.

Tom's face scrunched up. He looked like he couldn't understand what Emily had just said.

"**I know that.**"

Now it was Emily's turn to frown. She had found out Sage had told Cye and Rowen, but she hadn't a clue that he had told Tom.

I'm going to kick his butt when I get home, Emily thought.

"**It's kind of hard to miss with the ring on your finger,**" Tom pointed out.

Emily stared at her roommate and friend stunned. Now he had lost her completely. Suddenly, it occurred to her that she had been signing with her voice off. Plus, the sign for adopted and to take (or, in this case, taken) was the same. This time, she spoke and signed her sentence.

Tom's mouth abruptly dropped open. He stared at the blonde with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes grew wide and his eyebrows shot up in a perfect state of shock. Emily decided to continue before Tom had the chance to come out of his stupor.

"_**Sage just told me a few days ago. I was adopted when I was three months old,**_" Emily explained.

Tom had to take a few minutes to collect himself. He drew his arms away from his chest and started signing quickly. He was so quick that Emily had to request that he say it again.

"**Do you know anything about your parents?**" Tom asked.

Emily explained to him that she knew only their names and medical histories. She didn't know why they have given her up or who had been the person to bring her to them. Emily had spoken to her parents via long distance about the whole thing.

"_We apologize for not telling you sooner. The man came to us and he said he needed to find a loving home for you. We agreed to take you in. After that day, he never appeared again and we couldn't find him. I'm sorry, Emily, but he was probably the only link to your biological parents._"

Emily grew silent and lowered her hands to the table. She stared down at them with a decreased amount of energy. She didn't even hear Tom's chair get pushed backwards. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Tom wrapped his arms around her shoulders and laid his head down on hers.

Both of them knew there wasn't anything Tom could say right now. Being adopted wasn't a bad thing, at least not in Emily's overall opinion, but it was a hard candy to swallow. The body heat against her back and the warm arms wrapped around her shoulders soothed her nerves.

For now, Emily chose to push it further from her mind. It didn't do to dwell on the past. She repeated the mantra from before in her head again.

I'm a Wolfe by blood, but I've been a Date my whole life, Emily said to herself.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHT

Song: Walking in the Air by Celtic Woman


	10. Chapter 9

**jerseygurl02:** Wow, that is the longest review I have ever received! Again, you have a lot of good thoughts, some that didn't even occur to me, but could do well in the story, too. If you think the cliffhangers are bad now, just you wait. ;) More is to come.

**Vampire Ronin: **Hey! I was wondering where you'd gotten off to. I love to leave y'all waiting. All very true, but there always tends to be that little nagging feeling that you should know or deserve to know more about the biological parental unit. I'm sure the ronins will fill in again for me soon.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, readers and reviewers! I am posting the new chapter now (despite the fact, I would PREFER more reviews) because next weekend I will be away for a cousin's wedding. This is a short chapter, which is why I am posting two chapters. Maybe, and this is a mighty big maybe, if I get enough reviews a new chapter MIGHT be posted Friday before I leave town.**

**Enjoy!**

CHAPTER NINE

"Good morning, students!" Professor Douglas greeted as he entered the classroom.

The students all moved from where they were to sit at their desks. Emily sat in the back where one of four windows was. Since the temperature was so nice outside, she had opened the window to let in a gentle breeze. The other students didn't seem to mind.

"Please pass your papers forward and over to the right," Professor Douglas told them as he logged onto the classroom computer and pulled the screen down using his cane.

Emily had already reached over the student's shoulder sitting in front of her with her paper in hand. He reached up and snatched it out of her hand before adding his paper to the pile. Professor Douglas had already brought up the PowerPoint for the day's class and stood waiting for all the papers to be turned in.

"I hope you all enjoyed this assignment. It has been one of my favorites over the years as I always look forward to reading your thoughts," Professor Douglas said.

Emily pulled out her notebook, pen and highlighter. She opened her notebook to a fresh piece of paper and wrote the date at the top. While Emily did this, Professor Douglas crossed the room to pick up the papers from the pile at the far right. He lifted up the papers and balanced them up and down in one hand while crossing the room again.

"Hmm. It feels a C- paper short," the Sociology Professor said, placing the papers down.

A student in the back left corner jumped up from his seat and brought the crinkled paper up to the front. The professor thanked him with a knowing smile while the students laughed quietly. Professor Douglas hit the Enter key on the keyboard before picking up his clicker and speaking.

The PowerPoint program faded to black and the presentation started.

"Let us start our discussion on culture. Now, culture consists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society. Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to society's shared values, and contribute to society. What are some societal aspects that are included in culture?"

Hands rose up and he called on students to speak.

"Language."

"Technology."

"What about tools?"

Professor Douglas nodded his head.

"All good and correct answers. Culture also includes customs, values, norms, rules, products, organizations, and institutions."

Emily frowned as she raised her hand while she finished writing the last word the professor had said.

"Yes, Emily? Do you have a question?" Professor Douglas asked.

"I had a question about institutions. Do you mean schools? Like the charter, private, and public schools?" Emily asked, her face showing clear confusion.

"You're close, Emily. In Sociology, an institution refers to clusters of rules and cultural meanings associated with specific social activities. Common institutions are the family, _education_, religion, work, and health care," Professor Douglas explained.

Emily nodded her head as she scribbled down the notes and underlined institution with her highlighter. The professor proceeded to explain culture in greater detail with students throwing out questions and starting a discussion on racial culture. Soon the hour was coming to a close and students started putting their things away.

"Please pick up your assignment sheets here on the front table. This paper will be on the power of norms and will be due in two weeks. You will be exploring the power of norms by conducting a short experiment where you break a norm and analyze people's reactions. In the paper you will also be discussing the importance of norms, their place in society, and how their perception relates to concepts such as cultural relativism," Professor Douglas said.

Students nodded their heads and mumbled as they exited the classroom. Without warning, Professor Douglas let out a high, short whistle, stopping all movement in the classroom. They all turned to look at him as he placed another stack of papers down next to the assignment sheets.

"I almost forgot. There has been another attack on a female student just off a college campus. I plan to follow these cases and I hope you do as well. Please exercise caution around campus, especially the young ladies," he advised.

Emily swung her backpack over her head and allowed the strap of her messenger bag to rest diagonally across her chest. She walked carefully in between the desks to the front of the classroom. She bid the professor goodbye as she picked up the two sheets and left.

Emily carefully walked down the stairs while reading the assignment sheet. It sounded like a really fun and interesting assignment. She passed a few classmates on the stairwell who sounded like they were discussing the assignment.

"–going to eat a weird food combination."

"How about peanut butter and tomatoes?"

Like the guy who had first spoken, Emily scrunched up her face and made a gagging sound. She pushed open the large door that led to the outside and walked out onto the plaza. The breeze today felt so soothing that Emily decided to forgo an early lunch in favor of studying outside for a little bit.

Feeling especially nostalgic for the old days, Emily scaled up a large tree and sat with her back against the tree. She folded up the assignment sheet and stuffed it into her front backpack pocket. Then she read the printed newspaper article.

**NC College Student Attacked, Possible Connection to Previous Attacks**

**Boone, NC: **_An Appalachian State University student is recovering at the Watagua County Hospital following a serious attack the night of Friday, November 2, around 10:10pm. 18-year-old Suzanna Dateby was walking home after a late night study session on campus when she was attacked by an unknown assailant. _

_Suzanna suffers from a severe concussion on the side of her head, multiple small cuts on her arms and face, a split lip, a twisted ankle, and bruised ribs. Due to the severe concussion, Suzanna remembers only that there was one attacker. _

_Police are investigating the possible connections between this attack and previous cases of assault in California and Wisconsin. There are currently no suspects in any of the cases. The attacker is believed to be a body builder or familiar with forensics due to the lack of evidence left behind with the severity of injuries on the victim. Anyone with information is to contact the Watagua County Police Department._

Emily made an hmm sound before folding up the article and stuffing it into the same pocket. She personally didn't see much of a connection between the three cases; just a few coincidences. She agreed there were some similarities with the victims being college female students, all of them being blonde and none of them could remember anything about the attack. However, there were differences she couldn't ignore. The attacks were in different states, took place at different times (Wisconsin at 11:56pm and California 4:24am), and the seriousness of injuries varied.

She pulled a textbook out of her backpack and hung the zipped up backpack from a small but

sturdy tree limb. Emily opened the textbook to the next story she was assigned to read for English. The story was about a caregiver who was cleaning up an elderly man's home. The man was at the hospital following an attack of sorts and she was moving about through the motions as if expecting him to return.

Emily pulled out her notebook and answered the three questions at the end of the story. She gave her opinion on the story and how the author persuaded her to believe the man would not be returning to his home. Her thoughts were interrupted by a low grumbling in her stomach. Emily pulled out her cell phone to check the time.

"How does it get so late so fast?" she mumbled.

Emily stuffed all her things back into her backpack, swung her backpack on, and climbed down from the tree. She jumped down from the tree in the last three feet to land on the ground. She stood up from her crouched position and started walking towards the dining hall.

Suddenly, she stopped dead in the middle of the West Lawn. Without moving her head, her eyes darted from side to side. She couldn't explain the reasoning for the sudden alertness. It just felt as though…something was off. Not that something was necessarily wrong, but just off.

Her body temperature seemed to drop a little to cool her down as she closed her eyes and tilted her head. Quiet whispers of students whistled through the air from the plaza and the blaring of the bridge horn sounded off in the distance. The breeze picked up again and made a few leaves swirl around her in a weak circle.

She stood solid for a minute. Two minutes. Then she let out a loud breath and moved on to lunch. Whatever had caused her weird reaction seemed to have passed.

It's probably just change in the air. Tom did mention it would start to get really cold soon, Emily thought.

/…/

THWACK! Sage stood up and wiped the sweat off his brow. Sage couldn't shake the feeling that Emily was less than okay about the whole adoption news. He had wanted to give her more time with him to discuss it, but he had waited too long to tell her.

But I have no regrets about having Rowen propose to her first, Sage thought as he brought the axe down.

He added the chopped wood to the pile and carried the wood into the house. Then, he proceeded to venture back outside to clean up the leftover wood and put away the axe in a safe place. The blonde man sat down on the stump they used to chop wood as he pulled his shirt back on.

Instead of climbing to his feet and walking back into the house, Sage sat there deep in thought. Ever since returning home, he had spoken very little to his family, had not slept well, and hadn't gone on a single date. The girl he had been dating, a redhead by the name of Cassandra, had dumped him the other day. It turns out Emily's opinion of her had been accurate.

Oh, well. I'll eventually find the one for me, Sage thought.

Sage had a strong urge to help Emily in any way he could. But what _could_ he do? Then a thought occurred to him. He and his sister shared many similarities, including their thoughts and feeling about different issues.

Which means…Emily will probably want to find out more information about her parents, Sage thought. More than just their names and medical histories.

Being the son of a decorated police officer helped Sage in making a vast amount of connections. He knew enough people across this country and others that he may be able to find out more information for Emily.

"I have to try," he murmured.

END OF CHAPTER NINE


	11. Chapter 10

**Fair warning: First part here involves a memory/nightmare.**

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER TEN

Emily tossed and turned on her bed, shifting over onto her side with a low groan. She clutched her left hand to her chest in a vain attempt to stem the stinging that was slicing through her scar.

/…/

_Emily let out a blood curdling scream as she felt the crimson liquid being forced from her hand. Her eyes were open yet she couldn't see anything. Something or someone had a death grip on her left hand, pushing into it painfully to make it bleed from its open wound. She felt a strong force behind her keeping her on someone's lap. A strong arm came up and forced her face into a clothed chest after her scream had died down._

_She reached her free hand up to rip the arm away, but her arm was grabbed and forced down. Another strong force rested across her knees, holding them and her arm down. A shock of pain electrified up her arm, causing her body to shake violently. Whatever was holding her down seemed to have been expecting the sudden jerking motions. The grips tightened to prevent her from breaking loose._

_Emily nearly bit clean through her bottom lip as she wished for the pain to go away. A breath of hot air steamed up the ear closest to the person holding her upper body. She wanted to be sick._

"_It hurts, doesn't it?" a voice hissed. "Can you feel the venom coursing through your hand?"_

_As a matter of fact, she __**could**__ feel her hand trying to constrict from the pain shooting through it. She could feel it starting to move up her wrist, but then it stopped there._

"_What a shame Master Talpa won't let the venom run its course. It would certainly do the trick in slowing you down and curbing that sharp tongue of yours."_

_A rough, cold kiss descended behind her ear. Emily wanted nothing more than to rip her limbs back into control and tear apart the person holding her. She felt another spasm jerk her body around and the people holding her tightened their grips again._

"_Hold her still!" a voice growled from somewhere below her._

_The arm around her waist tightened painfully, as if trying to squeeze the breath out of her._

"_Let go of me!" she growled._

_A deep chuckle shook against her back and echoed through her ears._

"_No, no, no, dear girl. You won't be leaving us anytime soon. The ronin warriors are in the dynasty as our prisoners. There's nothing you or the ronins can do about it. Master Talpa will take care over the Mortal Realm and you?"_

_She felt the hot breath on her ear again just before she managed to elbow the body behind her hard in the stomach. The voice swore loudly in her ear before hissing, "You will __**never**__ leave here."_

/…/

The bedroom door creaked open as Cooper wedged himself through the doorway. He started whining low in the back of his throat when he saw how violently Emily was thrashing on the bed. The dog darted across the room to jump up on the bed and curl up next to Emily so she was curled around him.

She stopped thrashing and rolled over to grip Cooper's fur tightly in her hands as she hugged him. She mumbled incoherently into his fur. The large white dog didn't even whimper, despite the bruising grip Emily held him in. He simply tried to ease her pain by letting her know he was there. He knew from experience that his human companion was going through a night terror and would not wake until it was over.

/…/

_Her left hand was forced palm down with her wrist in a death grip. She could feel the blood trickling down from the open wound. A voice murmured something to the captor behind her in a language she couldn't comprehend. Somehow she had almost completely slid off her captor's lap when his attention had been diverted and his grip weakened. She felt the arm tighten again before pulling her back up against a clothed chest._

_The other two forces on the bottom half of her body moved with her. Whatever else was holding her down obviously didn't want to give her the opportunity to even attempt to break free. The hand on her head forced her back against the chest and covered her mouth just before she let loose another agonizing scream._

_This particular scream was a result of her bleeding hand being upturned and something boiling hot being poured onto it. In the back of her mind, she knew the scentless liquid felt like boiling hot water, but really wasn't._

"_Just a little more," she distantly heard someone mutter._

_Feeling the grip slacken again, she seized the opportunity to jerk away roughly and almost broke free. The hand returned, this time shooting for her throat. She had to force herself to calm down when she gasped for breath. The hand squeezed tight as if warning her and the hot breath blew over her ear again._

"_Try that __**again**__ and he'll leave just enough in your hand to __**paralyze**__ it," the voice growled._

_Wisely choosing not to further anger the man, she weakly nodded her head as best as she could. The hand released her throat but not before giving another small warning squeeze. It did, however, move up and tap her gently on the cheek._

"_Smart girl."_

_Emily finally felt her body give out on fighting and she slumped back into the cruel arms of her captor. She closed her eyes to rest and, hopefully, restore her energy. She felt the weight on her legs and right arm lift away. She tried to keep her breath even to keep from hyperventilating._

_A pair of hands held her left arm at the elbow and wrist. Another pair of hands was dabbing at the hand with a…cloth(?) before pressing down to hold it in place. Emily relied on the motions to keep her calm. Smooth but thick bandaging was wrapped over her wound._

_She flinched when her captor returned her attention to his presence. A hand came up to pull a few strands of hair behind her ear before curling into her hair. The hand roughly but slowly pulled her head back to tilt it up._

_In the back of her mind, Emily kept telling herself to remain calm. However, all thoughts of false peace and tranquility left like a boat in the Bermuda Triangle, when her injured hand was finally released. With it went the other two captors, leaving her with the worst of the three._

_With her captor's right hand holding her head in an iron grip, the man used his left hand to pick up hers. He brought it up close to her face to get a better look at it._

"_Even with Halo's healing ability, it would have continued to bleed for some time. Not even your brother could have fully healed the wound. I wonder how badly scarred it is now."_

_Emily suppressed another scream as she felt the darkness closing in around her. She opened her eyes and was surprised her vision had returned. Her eyes darted to her left hand that was still within her captor's grasp. Yet all she saw were black shadows of darkness wrapped around her hand in a shape similar to a hand._

"_I wonder how the years have changed you. I have missed you, little light."_

_Emily couldn't suppress the shivers that ran up her spine. Suddenly, chains wrapped around her arms and tied them together in front of her._

"_When I get a hold of you, none of the ronins will be able to come to your aid."_

_Emily closed her eyes and flashes went off at the back of her head. Over the loud roaring in her ears, she just barely managed to hear a voice._

"_Leave her be for now, Cale."_

_Without warning, she felt the darkness recede all at once and…_

/…/

Emily's eyes shot open and she jolted backwards away from Cooper, colliding with the wall her bed leaned against. The dog bolted up right at the sudden movement and looked at her questioningly. It took Emily several minutes to assess and realize where she was.

Her eyes immediately shot to her hand where the thin scar was from a certain warlord's katana. Even in the pure dark of the room, she could clearly see the dark scar. She started grumbling something in Japanese as she climbed over Cooper and off the bed. Her grumbling continued through her changing into sweatpants and a short sleeved shirt with a pullover covering it. She bent down and shoved her already tied shoelaces onto her feet.

The college freshmen opened her bedroom door and crossed the apartment to the bathroom. She washed her hands vigorously before whipping her gloves onto her hands. Emily ignored Cooper as she grabbed up her iPod and keys and left the apartment. Emily drew up her hood and cranked the music up to the point of damaging her hearing. Emily let it drown her thoughts out as she went running.

_Standing alone in the twilight_

_Somehow I feel you there_

_Shadows are move on the outside_

_But inside I'm not scared_

_At the moment you reached for me_

_You whispered sweetly_

_And we're frozen in time_

_When you look in my eyes_

_Until the end_

_It was you I waited for_

_I can't pretend_

_I don't love you anymore_

_All by myself_

_You were always in my heart_

_Until the end_

'_Cause I knew it from the start_

_I played the game but I knew my_

_Heart wasn't made of stone_

_You kept me safe even when I_

_Gave it to you, I know_

_At the moment you reached for me_

_You whispered sweetly_

_And we're frozen in time_

_When you look in my eyes_

_Until the end_

_It was you I waited for_

_I can't pretend_

_I don't love you anymore_

_All by myself_

_You were always in my heart_

_Until the end_

'_Cause I knew it from the start_

_Can't stop believing_

_Am I still dreaming?_

_You're here with me tonight_

_Heat and the passion_

_All I imagined_

_We're gonna make it right_

_From the start_

_Until the end_

_Until the end_

_It was you I waited for_

_I can't pretend_

_I don't love you anymore_

_All by myself_

_You were always in my heart_

_Until the end_

'_Cause I knew it from the start_

_Until the end_

Emily moved at her prime speed, moving with the speed of the ronins in armor. She moved like a blur through the trees. Her very breath seemed to whip away from her like the wind around her. Despite her speed and the whipping wind, Emily's hood remained up.

Emily pushed her body beyond its limits until she finally ripped off her headphones and collapsed to her knees. She knelt by a lake, trying to remember how to breath normally. She lowered her head and hid her face in her hands.

Nothing was making sense anymore and the nightmares were getting worse. Emily knew by the way she had reacted to Cooper's presence that she had experienced a night terror. She sat there trying to keep the tears at bay as dry sobs wracked her body. She took a long time to come down from her emotional high.

One final thought came to her as the sun was breaking over the horizon.

_I know what I need to do._

/…/

"Emily?"

The young woman picked her head up at the sound of her name. An older gentleman stood a few feet from her with a stack of files in his hands and a worn-out messenger bag slung over his shoulder. Emily was sitting on a bench outside a small cottage-like building. She had called a cab to bring her back to the college after she had realized how far she had actually run.

I still can't believe I ran a distance of what should have been an hour and a half in only a few minutes, Emily said to herself as she stood up.

"How did you know I'd be stopping by the office today?" the gentleman asked.

Emily shrugged.

"I didn't," she replied.

The gentleman smiled as he stepped closer and to the side. The large tree beside the cottage now shielded his face from the sun.

"Were you planning to stay out here all weekend long until I came in on Monday?" he asked gently.

Again, Emily shrugged and her gaze fell to the ground. The gentleman took one step closer and laid a hand down on her shoulder, causing her to look back up into his soft green eyes.

"Would you like to come in and talk, Emily?"

Emily didn't hesitate to nod her head. The sandy-haired gentleman stepped up to the cottage door

to unlock and admit both of them into the building. Emily followed him into a small entrance area that had a warm atmosphere with a secretarial desk, a large fish tank full of goldfish, and several vases of flowers.

"I'll call you back in a minute, Emily. Let me put these files away and clear away a space for us to sit," the gentleman told her.

"Thanks, Dr. Walker," Emily murmured softly.

She watched him disappear down a hallway and through a door on the right. The Counseling Services for Pineview seemed small in its little cottage, but the three Counselors were wonderful people. Emily knew Dr. Walker well due to her volunteer work as an Ambassador. One of the stops on the tour for prospective students was the Counseling Services and Dr. Walker always took the time to step out and say a few words in greeting.

She had once had the pleasure of having a long conversation with him while waiting in line at the dining hall. She had learned more about him and his family. Dr. Walker had been with Pineview for the last twenty years and before that he had worked as a Marriage & Family Counselor. He was married to a beautiful wife for twenty-something years and they had three children, a daughter and twin sons. They were the proud grandparents of four grandchildren.

"I'm ready for you, Emily," Dr. Walker called.

Emily turned her attention away from the fish tank and walked down the hallway to Dr. Walker's office. He held the door open for her and gestured for her to sit down on an old couch in the office. She sat down and rested her back against the couch. Dr. Walker closed the door and took a few steps away to sit down on a chair he had pulled up for himself.

"I'm surprised you would stop by on a Saturday. I thought the Archery Club met on Saturdays," Dr. Walker said while crossing one leg over his lap.

"Some of our group is at a car wash this morning for another club so we agreed to meet in the afternoon," Emily answered.

Dr. Walker nodded in understanding. He remembered seeing a flyer about a club car wash going on this weekend. It was a good weekend to do it since "snowbird" season had begun. He regarded Emily in silence as she sat silently staring at her feet. He didn't push her to talk; he waited for her to start.

"I'm hoping you can help me, Dr. Walker. This isn't really something I can talk to my family or friends about. I'm just not sure where to start," Emily said, ending with a short chuckle.

"I always find that starting at the beginning is a good way to go," Dr. Walker suggested.

Emily cracked a smile. She interlocked her fingers and held them up to her mouth for a moment before resting them in her lap.

"I guess it all started a little over two years ago. I had just spent a wonderful weekend with my older brother. I was supposed to go camping with a group of friends, but decided against it at the last moment. I hopped on a bus to go home, but I was halfway through a park when a group of guys abducted me."

She was careful not to give any specific details such as the fact that her abductors were immortal warlords sent by a dark overlord from another realm.

"My family didn't know because they thought I was still out camping. They wanted me because of my connection to my brother. He's very skilled at martial arts and kendo. They knew I had strong skills, too, and they wanted to push me until I showed them all I had. I was with them for a week in which they forced me to fight."

She proceeded to weave a tale of her abduction. Dr. Walker was shocked she had been forced to fight, allowing for great physical harm to come to her, and kept under constant surveillance. In addition, she had been drugged at least once to keep her from escaping.

"What happened?" he asked, keeping his voice soft and steady.

"My family (the ronins) discovered what had happened to me and a special team (guess who?) was sent in to rescue me. Their…ringleader got cocky and they were able to save me." Emily paused. "During my abduction and shortly after my rescue, I was suffering from nightmares and night terrors."

Dr. Walker uncrossed his legs and leaned forward with his arms resting across his lap.

"Nightmares can be common during great amounts of stress in life. I imagine the stress of having to fight caused you to be at ill ease when sleeping. After being rescued, I'm sure the memories were still fresh in your mind," he said, offering his advice.

Emily nodded. Only about half of that was true since she knew part of the nightmares during her stay had been from the power of a certain warlord's armor.

"The nightmares started back up a little over a month ago," Emily confessed with a hard sigh.

It felt good to say it out loud. The only other person she had told about the return of her nightmares was Tom.

"I had a pretty horrible night terror last night," Emily added.

Dr. Walker's eyebrows rose slowly as his face changed to one of deep thought.

"I must say, you do have me surprised. Night terrors are very rare. Less than 1% of adults experience a night terror episode within their lifetime. In adults, they most commonly occur between the ages of 20 and 30," Dr. Walker admitted to her.

"And I'm 18. That doesn't exactly make me common," Emily mumbled.

The good doctor chuckled as he reached across the coffee table to pat the young woman on the knee.

"No. No, you're not common. I believe you are a very special young lady, Emily."

This compliment caused Emily to relax and break out into a small smile. Dr. Walker suggested that since the two year anniversary had been not too long ago, maybe she was feeling as though her attackers may come back. She quickly shot that idea down.

"There was a massive fire that broke out. We know for sure the ringleader didn't survive and there's no way my abductors could have survived either."

"Have there been any recent overdue amounts of stress in your life?" Dr. Walker asked.

He, like the rest of the campus, already knew about her long term engagement to her boyfriend. He doubted the news would have brought on enough stress to be hurting Emily so much. Her next reply was so quiet the only reason he knew she had spoken was that she had picked her head up slightly.

"I'm…sorry. My hearing's gotten a little worse with my aging," the counselor apologized.

Emily lifted her head and gave him a small smile.

"I'm adopted." Emily paused to let the information sink in. "I was only a few months old when my family adopted me. My siblings and I were none the wiser until recently. Mom and Dad asked Sage to tell me."

Dr. Walker understood now why he had been seeing a slightly less happy Emily around the campus recently. She was in her freshmen year of college and very far away from her family and had just been informed she was adopted. With another pat on Emily's knee, Dr. Walker stood and walked over to his desk. He pulled something out of the top drawer and sat down next to Emily after she scooted over.

He held out a small photograph which Emily took gently into her hand. Emily gazed at the photo with a smile. The picture depicted a young woman with a small baby bundled up in a thick, blue blanket. Dr. Walker tapped the photo lightly.

"This is my mother, Elena. She was eighteen, almost nineteen when I was born. She made the hard decision to give me up for adoption. I was adopted by Walter and Amelia Walker, a married couple in their late thirties. I was only five when Elena passed away. My parents always told me how much she loved me and gave me a special box she had made of things for me," Dr. Walker explained.

Emily felt her heart rise up from her stomach. Dr. Walker understood what she was going through. It wasn't just that he was a counselor, but he had the same life experience as her.

"How much do you know about her? About your birth mother, I mean?" Emily asked as she sat up and handed the photograph back.

"I learned a lot from my parents about her. She had stayed in touch with them ever since the adoption and she had left many things to me before she passed on," he answered.

"My family doesn't know anything about my biological parents. A man, a supposed best friend of my father's, brought me to my family."

For the next two hours, Dr. Walker shared his story of being adopted with Emily. As gratitude for having made her feel better and offering her good advice, Emily offered to buy him lunch.

"I will have to take a rain check, Emily. I promised my son and daughter-in-law I would join them for a late lunch today," he apologized as they both stood up.

Emily nodded as she headed for the door.

"I have an opening Wednesday mornings and I will keep it open in case you'd like to stop by," Dr. Walker told her.

With her hand on the doorknob, the young blonde turned and smiled at the college counselor.

"Thank you, Dr. Walker."

Emily turned the doorknob and opened the door. She was halfway through the door when she heard him say, "Samuel." Emily stopped and shot him a confused look over her shoulder.

"Call me Samuel. It is my first name and I would like it very much if you were to use it," Dr. Walker explained.

All that the shocked Emily could do was nod.

/…/

"For the love of all that is holy, turn _that_ _**off**_!"

The loud blaring sound of drums and bagpipes was suddenly turned to in inaudible level. The group of archers all let out sighs of relief. Glancing over her shoulder, Emily chuckled before returning her attention to the task at hand. Emily relaxed her shoulders and brought her bow arm up to shoulder height. She pulled the elbow of her bow arm back away from the string.

Ignoring the trio messing with the radio and trying to find a decent station, Emily stood straight and kept both her shoulders as low as possible. The string of her bow touched the middle of her chin with her index finger tucked under her chin. Her body created a near perfect straight line. She held the bow firmly to keep her hands from shaking.

The target stood 50 feet away and she had it set in her sights. Emily closed her right eye and kept the bow steady. She relaxed the fingers of her draw hand, allowing it to drop and draw backwards. The arrow zipped from her bow, slicing through the air with ease. Her hand relaxed in the air behind her ear and she kept herself aimed at the target until it hit the target.

Down by the targets there was a bench off to the side where two of the Archery Club members were taking a break from shooting. One of them jumped off the bench and jogged over to the target Emily had hit. After checking the target, he faced back where they were and raised his arms up in a touchdown-like manner. She smiled as she dropped her arms just before one of her friends clapped her on the shoulders from behind.

"Another perfect landing, Em!" he cheered.

"Thanks, Philip," she replied.

The teammate down the field pulled Emily's arrow out carefully and returned to the bench. Emily smiled weakly around at her team of friends. The Archery Club was made up of a dozen college students with Emily, surprisingly, being the only female and freshmen.

With the night terror and whole adoption issue still fresh in her mind, Emily drew another arrow, aimed for the target, and fired.

END OF CHAPTER TEN

**All Ronins: **YAY! LONGEST CHAPTER **EVER!**

**Yuli: **Please don't forget to type in the box below and hit that Submit Review button!


	12. Chapter 11

Kento: *slides into the room* What's up, people? Tigergirl's gone to Georgia for the weekend and will be back in a few days. SO…guess who's taking over the weekend?

Cye: *walks into the room* Sorry, everyone. Tigergirl left a triple chocolate fudge cake in the kitchen and Kento? *sigh* Just ate 2/3 of that.

Kento: COME ON, COME ON, COME ON! Let's get going, guys!

Rowen: *enters the room with Ryo and Sage* Please tell me you hid the rest of that cake.

Cye: I tried, but White Blaze ran off with it. *Kento lets out a loud cry, mourning the loss of his cake*

Ryo: o_O &%$

Sage: *glare* What's with the foul language, Ryo?

Ryo: Chocolate makes that cat sick. I better go find him before he loses his stomach all over the house. *leaves the room*

Sage: Oookay. Let's get this started already. Our first review is from **Vampire Ronin. We're so happy to see you still alive. We've been missing your reviews. You're right to be curious about the attacks. Keep them in the back of your mind for later.**

Cye: Attacks? What attacks?

Sage: *blank face* Nothing.

Rowen: *glare* Told you you should have told them. Our next review comes from **jerseygurl02. Emily's aware of what's going on but she doesn't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet to fully know what's going on with the attacks. Cliffhangers are the best because it leaves you wanting more and it encourages reviews. More is soon to come.**

Cye: You _will_ tell me later. Oh? Wait a minute. Here's another review from **jerseygurl02. Thank you, thank you! Tigergirl felt like someone needed to be put in here that could relate and talk to Emily. Their relationship will grow stronger over time as Emily finally gets the help she needs. There is ****always**** more than meets the eye within the chapters.**

Kento: HELP! HELP! HELP! EMILY NEEDS HELP!

Sage, Rowen and Cye: SIT DOWN, KENTO!

Kento: *plops down on the couch* Our last review is from **TheWhiteWanderer. Yeah, a new reviewer! Glad to see you like the story. Tigergirl will be sure to keep updating.**

Ryo: *shouts from outside* Hey Sage!

Sage: What?

Ryo: How much do you love your car?

Sage: O_O

NOT MY CAMARO! *runs out of the room*

Cye: And now, ladies and gentleman, I present to you Chapter Eleven for Trouble Follows Little Sister.

Kento: WAIT!

Rowen & Cye: o_O

Cye: What? We need to start the story already.

Kento: *scribbling like mad on a piece of paper* I've been doing the math and something's not right here.

Rowen: *sigh* I've told you a thousand times, Kento. E equals…

Kento: I know **that**! I mean I've been doing the math on these views and reviews.

Rowen & Cye: Huh?

Kento: *shoves his paper into Rowen's hands* Hear me out, hear me out! There have been a total of 601 views for all ten chapters and that little blurb that wasn't an update. YET there are only 26 reviews. And…*looks at another chart*…I have seen only 8 reviewers. It doesn't add up!

Rowen: *looks at the paper, looks at Kento, looks at the paper* Oh my…He's right. *walks away mumbling to himself*

Cye: O_O Enjoy the new chapter while I go look for the thermometer.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The police station was buzzing with activity. A shift change was causing a large influx of officers to be moving around the building. Despite the large number of people, not a single person bothered a familiar blonde stooped over a desk in the middle of all the ruckus. With his father out on patrol, Sage was free to work at his desk and use his computer. Like his father, he had been up since the crack of dawn.

Using his father's connections and the police database, Sage had been trying to find information on Emily's birth parents. So far, he could find nothing on Andrew or Annalise Wolfe. He had tried broadening the search by only typing in their first names and other descriptive information. He had spent hours combing through and eliminating possible candidates.

Putting his pencil down, Sage leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms out. He didn't even bother to cover his mouth as he let out a big yawn. He was grateful that Rowen was conducting his own research at the University by cross-referencing old news articles with the names of Emily's parents.

I hope he's having better luck than I am, Sage said to himself.

Next, Sage stood and went over to another computer around the corner. This particular computer had all of the information about cold cases on it. He typed in the year Emily was brought to his parents and went from there. Sage got lost in the numbers as he cross-referenced the year with physical appearances. It helped that Emily was a rare blood type as that _should_ have made it easier to find her parents.

Sage stared at the computer screen past the point where his vision was blurring and his head pounding. Unknown to him, Cye had just entered the police station. On their flight over, Sage had sent him a quick email from his laptop, telling him to break the news to the others. Needless to say, it had become quite a shock to the trio. Until Sage had showed him the paperwork after they returned, Kento had refused to believe it was anything but a joke.

Not seeing Sage, Cye walked over to the desk where Mr. Date was now sitting. He walked around the desk so that the police officer could see him.

"Hello, Cye. Are you looking for my son?" Mr. Date asked.

"Yes, sir. It's nearly ten and we were getting worried. He wasn't answering our calls and Rowen came home over two hours ago," Cye explained.

Mr. Date nodded his head slowly.

"He's trying his best to help Emily adjust to the news. When Emily was ten, we tried finding her birth parents but our search yielded no results. I hope Sage has better luck. It _has_ been eight

years since then," Mr. Date explained.

Cye stood silently, giving the concerned father his attention and patience. After a moment of silence, the man directed him to where he could find Sage. Cye weaved his way around desks and officers before cutting around the corner. He stopped in the doorway and sighed sadly.

Sage was slumped over to the side of a keyboard with his head buried in his arms. The slow, steady movement of his shoulders gave away how tired the man truly was. Cye walked over to his friend and shook him softly on the shoulder. His head turned and a sleepy blue eye gazed up at him.

Cye said nothing as he helped pull his friend up to his feet.

[You need food and rest.]

An exhausted Sage said nothing, mentally or out loud, as Cye guided him through the police station and out to the jeep. Cye opened the back door instead of the passenger seat, allowing for Sage to lie down across the back seat. Sage clumsily reached down to the floorboard for a small pillow they kept in the jeep.

By the time Cye had walked around to the driver's seat and climbed in, the Warrior of Light had already fallen back to sleep. Cye started up the car and pulled out of the parking space.

[We're en route to the house. I'm going to need someone to help me get Sage into the house.]

It was only a moment later that Ryo replied along the armor mental link.

[I'm still up, Cye. I'll help you when you get here.]

[Thanks, Ryo.]

Sage wasn't aware of it, but Cye was using his connections in England to conduct a separate search for Emily's biological parents. So far, he had a couple of leads, but he didn't want to get Sage's hopes up.

Not until I'm absolutely sure, Cye vowed silently.

/…/

It didn't take much for Ryo and Cye to get Sage upstairs to his and Rowen's room. They let him drop onto his bed then Cye threw a blanket over him. Cye glanced sleepily at his watch before groaning. It was 11:05 at night and he had to be up early tomorrow morning. Ryo took him by the shoulder to shove him lightly in the direction of his and Kento's room.

"Get some sleep, Cye," Ryo told him.

"I will. Thanks for your help getting Sage up the stairs."

"Anytime."

Ryo walked down the hallway to the study where he closed the door firmly behind him. It was the room that had once been Mia's father's work office. He walked over to the computer where the back of the monitor faced the door and put a headset back on. He moved the microphone down to rest against his cheek. The computer screen showed a desktop with a chair. There was a bottled soda to the left and a cell phone to the right on the table in front of the computer it was connected to.

"I'm back," he said.

Emily appeared on the screen after having bent down to look at something. She smiled at him.

"We have to finish the conversation soon, Ryo. I need to go see Dr. Walker in a little bit," Emily told him.

Ryo frowned.

"Dr. Walker? Never heard you mention him before," Ryo replied.

"It's flu season and I need a flu shot. He's the doctor on campus," Emily said in a half lie. "I was supposed to see him earlier today, but he got stuck in traffic."

"Oh. Okay. Sorry I had to step away for a minute. Cye needed my help getting your brother upstairs," Ryo apologized.

"It's okay. I know he's been down at the station all day trying to find out more about my birth parents," Emily replied.

Ryo's face morphed into shock as he tried to stutter out a response.

"H-how? Gods, Sage is going to kill me," Ryo groaned.

Emily chuckled. She explained to him that he hadn't been the one to let out the secret.

"You forget that I have two other siblings that happen to be female and many connections around the campus. I know what Rowen and Sage have been up to." Emily smiled. "And I love them both all the more."

A small smile crept its way onto Ryo's face.

"So what are the rest of you up to?"

Ryo debated on telling her what Cye was up to. He knew the British man would probably have his head for saying something. Then again Emily always seemed to know when secrets were being kept from her _about_ her. That sealed his decision.

"Cye's conducting his own search for your birth parents in England. Kento did his part by making some big care package. It should be arriving any *yawn* day now," Ryo said, turning his head away momentarily to yawn.

Emily smiled. It was often hard for her to remember the significant time difference between Florida and Japan. She could clearly see that the Wildfire bearer was exhausted.

"And what of you, Pyro?" Emily said, ending her question with a wink.

Ryo gave her a mock glare. On the entire planet, Emily was the _only_ person permitted to call him that.

"Me? I'm here for you to vent to. If you want. You know I'll listen," Ryo answered.

Emily thanked him before telling him to sign off and get some sleep. Ryo rubbed at the side of his eyes before agreeing and wishing her a good day.

"You'll be home soon, Em. Keep those grades up," Ryo teased lightly.

Emily nodded before exiting out of the chat and logging off the computer. Emily slid off the chair and grabbed up her bag from the floor. She walked away from the student union computer area with her sights set on the counseling cottage. She made it across the campus in almost no time at all.

When she entered the counseling cottage, the secretary looked up from her desk and smiled at her. She was often working the desk when Emily came in with her tour groups. Emily walked over with a smile.

"Hello, Emily. You can go on back. He's all ready for you," she told him.

"Thank you, Mrs. Gallagher."

Emily passed the front desk to walk down the hallway. She stopped in the doorway of Dr. Walker's office and rapped gently on the open door with her knuckles. Dr. Walker, who had his head buried in a large box on his desk, glanced up, but his greeting died with an unexpected sneeze.

"Bless you," Emily said, walking into the office.

She started to sit down, but Dr. Walker gestured her over to his desk instead.

"I apologize for my late arrival. To make up for it, I'd like to treat you to lunch," Dr. Walker offered.

Emily tried to tell him it wasn't necessary, but he told her he wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally, she relented, causing the good man to smile.

"Now, I'd like you to tell me where _you_ would like to start. I feel that discussing your abduction will help with the nightmares, but I know you may be experiencing a bit of anxiety about the news of you being adopted," Dr. Walker said.

"I…I'd like to keep working on discussing my abduction, if that's okay," Emily answered truthfully.

Dr. Walker nodded as he reached over to pat Emily on the shoulder. He scooped up a few expo markers and an eraser from his desk before guiding the young woman across the room. Facing his desk was a large whiteboard that was mounted on the wall. He held out the aforementioned items to Emily who took them while she placed her bag down on the floor and against the wall.

"I want you to use this entire space to write words, sentences, emotions, any thoughts that remind you of that moment in your life."

Emily nodded in understanding. She waited until Dr. Walker returned to his desk to uncap one of the markers. Once the marker touched the board, Emily looked as if she had fallen into a trance. Dr. Walker observed her in fascination. He watched as she capped her marker and chose to start writing with another marker.

Emily wrote certain things in smaller print and other words she pressed hard on the board, making the words darker than others. She knew certain words meant more to her. Only after she had covered almost every inch of the whiteboard did she cap the markers and step back. Dr. Walker joined her in looking over the display.

**Poison**

Fate

Anxiety

Hopelessness

Outer Calm, Inner Turmoil

**Nightmares**

**Little Light**

**Pain**

No light on the horizon.

Hope

Darkness

**Helplessness**

Demons

Deception

In between some of the words were Japanese symbols Dr. Walker was not familiar with; Emily had written them to represent the three warlords and the ronins. There was one statement towards the far right end of the whiteboard that had been written so small that the psychologist actually had to step closer to read it. It said: Will I ever move on from the past?

"Good. Very good, Emily," Dr. Walker told her.

"Thanks, Dr. Walk-, I mean, Samuel."

Dr. Walker smiled at the slip-up, but said nothing. He picked up the eraser and handed it to Emily.

"I want you to look at what you wrote. Actually look at the words on the board. These messages represent the past and the role the abduction played in your past. I see conflicted emotions here. Hope and hopelessness; anxiety, fate, pain. This eraser represents the control you have over your life. I want you to erase the board and erase the combined negative energy of the past."

Even though the speech sounded confusing, Emily understood what he meant. She took the eraser from him and stepped up to the board. This is where she paused. The words on the board were nothing more than just words, but Emily knew better. They represented the horrors of the kidnapping and the harsh reality that it _had_ really happened.

She brought her arm up and swiped the eraser across the board until there was nothing left. A weight lifted off her heart and shoulders, giving her a light feeling that put her at ease. She turned back around to Dr. Walker with a genuine smile. She told him how she felt now.

"Good. Then the healing can truly begin. For now, let's take a break for lunch and continue this after."

/…/

Emily sat down in a seat at the very back of the city bus. She remembered when there had been a time she wouldn't even venture near bus stops, let alone board or ride a bus. Because of the secret of the ronin warriors, Emily had not seen anyone for counseling.

I guess it's been stewing just under the surface the whole time, Emily said to herself.

It was getting late, but Emily had decided to ride on the bus around the city. She had much to think about. Lunch with Dr. Walker had been enjoyable. They had gone to a quaint, little restaurant nearby that Dr. Walker had gone to with his son and daughter-in-law a few days ago. The place had been wonderful and had put her at ease with continuing their counseling. Something the counselor had said had stuck with her.

"_You said your abductors forced you to fight. Was there anything else they did?_"

One particular memory came to the surface that, to this day, she still couldn't quite understand.

/…/

_She was lying on the couch with Sekhmet's huge python laid out on her stomach. Her ankle was throbbing painfully and the pain only seemed to stem off when she laid down. Yesterday, Cale had acted as her shadow and, despite her painful injury, she had been ready to whip around to deck him in his good eye._

_He certainly wouldn't have been expecting it, Emily bitterly thought._

_She heard someone walking down the hallway as she rubbed the python on the head with her finger. She stopped the motion and closed her eyes in hopes that the person approaching thought she was asleep. Emily was startled when the python was lifted off her._

"_I know you're awake."_

_What startled her even more was the voice of the person. She opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look up at the warlord of illusions. Out of the three, he was the one who seemed to "interact" with her the least. Without speaking again, Dais grasped her wrist and jerked her upwards firmly._

_Emily was forced to sit up then stand. He further surprised her by leaning her on him so she didn't have to walk on her bad leg. She leaned back to give him an odd look._

"_I've never known a __**warlord**__ to play nice," Emily stated point blank, as he started walking her down the hallway._

"_Would you rather I carry you?" he said in a false sweet voice._

"_Would you rather be completely blind?" Emily shot back._

_Emily had to suppress a chuckle as she hopped down the hallway with Dais' hands, thankfully, staying in neutral territory. Their bantering sounded suspiciously like that of her and her brother. Her concerns intensified when he led her not back into Sekhmet's room but into an unfamiliar room._

_She could only suspect she was in Dais' room now which did nothing to calm her nerves._

_He tries __**anything**__ and I __**will**__ kill him, injury or no injury, Emily said to herself._

_The room had a few things here and there, but it seemed most of it was hidden in the shadows. There was a large spider's web up against one wall where she spotted a few good-sized tarantulas traveling up the sticky strands. There was a small cot in the center of the room with a small coffee table beside it with two burning candles sitting on it._

_Why do I have the sudden feeling I __**should**__ blind him, Emily thought as she was led over to the cot._

"_Sit."_

_Leaning back again, she gave him a glare that she could have only learned from her brother. It didn't have nearly the same burning intensity, though._

"_Like Hell, I will."_

_Emily had no warning before her uninjured leg was taken out from under her and the only reason she didn't immediately pitch to the ground was the strong arm around her waist. She mumbled curses under breath as she was lowered down to the cot. Normally, she would have sat cross-legged but instead stretched her injured leg out. He released her to walk away and close the door._

_A million thoughts were rampaging through her head as she watched him walk over to the table. Some of the anxiety calmed when he sat down across from her and on the other side of the table. He waved his hand over the table. To Emily's surprise, a chess set faded into view. Emily frowned._

_Kento warned me about him and his illusions, Emily thought._

"_Do you play?" Dais asked her in a neutral tone of voice._

_Emily narrowed her eyebrows at him but answered in the affirmative._

"_Good. You move first."_

_She stared at him confused for a second before reaching her hand out and moving one of her pawns forward. She watched him curiously as he mirrored her move on the board. Emily moved her knight out and waited for his move. For a few moments, Dais studied the board before making his next move._

_Emily smelled a scent from one of the candles. She couldn't place what the scent reminded her of, but it was rancid. It was so powerful it felt like it could burn off her eyebrows._

"_Is there any particular reason why you chose me to play against?" Emily asked as she picked up a piece, paused, and then set it down._

"_I've been playing them for over three hundred years and neither can play well…__**at**__. __**all**__."_

_Emily covered her laugh with a loud cough. She contemplated her next move before moving another pawn. It was too early in the game for her to analyze the warlord's battle strategy on a chessboard. She wasn't surprised when his knight took out one of her pawns._

_They were about halfway through the game when the scent of the candle finally got to her. She placed her elbows on the table and, turning one of her hands into a fist, leaned her cheek on it._

"_If the stinky candle isn't removed within the next ten seconds, it's not going to be pretty," she warned him._

_Having been looking down at the board when she spoke, Dais moved his gaze up to regard Emily in silence. Picking up the candle to her left (his right), Dais blew out the candle and stood to take it somewhere else. He disappeared into the shadows where Emily couldn't see him, but could still hear him shuffling around._

"_Does it bother you that much?" came the low, quiet voice from nowhere._

_Emily had been anticipating him speaking so she didn't jump when the actual words were spoken. The blonde woman took out Dais' knight with her bishop._

"_I was about to lose the contents of my stomach so I'm going to have to say yes," Emily grumbled, but was loud enough to be heard._

_Dais returned with a different, scentless candle that was lit. He set it down in the empty space next to the chessboard. From his standing position, Dais looked down at the board. Emily held the taken knight in her hand, running her thumb over the frosted glass chess piece. She froze when there was a sudden knocking at the door._

_Dais waved his hand over the table, throwing an illusion over the chessboard to hide it from sight. Emily didn't question him when he touched the side of her head and pushed lightly yet firmly. She lied down facing away from the door, closed her eyes, and kept her breathing even as she listened._

_She heard the door open and a low voice speak._

"_Have you seen the girl?"_

_Dais must be standing where he can shield me from view, Emily thought silently._

_She heard movements that were consistent with someone moving in the doorway._

"_What's she doing in here with you?"_

_Emily could now decipher the voice as belonging to Sekhmet. She knew she had been there a little too long when she could pick up the subtle differences in their voices already. She could almost hear the smirk on Dais' face when he spoke next._

"_You and Cale have already had your fun. Now it's my turn."_

_Emily heard Sekhmet murmur something back to his fellow warlord, but it was too low for her to decipher. A few moments later, the door closed and she heard Dais walk back over._

"_Checkmate."_

"_What?!"_

_Emily's eyes shot open and she sat straight up. She leaned her arms on the table and looked carefully at the chessboard._

_Now how the Hell could he have done that, Emily pondered._

_Emily grumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes as she pushed herself up from the table. She had only taken a few steps when she heard a chuckle._

"_And here I thought a mortal would put up more of a challenge."_

_Emily had to chomp down onto her bottom lip to keep from saying something she would regret sooner rather than later. Then a sly smile broke out across her face before she turned back around with a slight limp._

"_If you wanted to play me again, all you had to do was ask."_

_Keeping her foot slightly off the ground, Emily hopped twice and sunk back down on the cot. She let out a clear, colorful word as a shock of pain shot through her ankle. Dais didn't bother to hide the smirk on his face._

_He's enjoying this a bit too much, Emily thought._

_The blue-eyed warlord gestured to the chessboard with the wave of his hand._

"_Mortals, first."_

END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kento: We hope you all enjoyed this lovely chapter. I'm sorry, but I'm the only here to close the chapter. Sage is chasing Ryo all over Japan after Blaze yakked on his car, Rowen locked himself in his room with his calculator and a binder of papers, and Cye is still searching for the thermometer. *smile* So leave the reviews, peeps!


	13. Chapter 12

**TheWhiteWanderer:** Thank you, thank you. Oh, you can have a good fan fic without the warlords, but you can have an even better one with them! ;)

**collegegal: **Oooh, a new reviewer! Thanks so much. I try my best in between doing my actual job. It's all good. I don't mind no reviews for the previous chapters. Glad you found me.

**jerseygurl02:** There's my big reviewer. Oh, you'll hear snippets of what happened to her as memories continue to surface. Well, from Chapter 11 of "Little Sister, Big Trouble," it should provide the pieces to put the puzzle together. Oh, I love having the ronins answer the reviews sometimes, especially when I'm out of town. I will keep it up so long as the muse is in the corner playing my tune.

**Vampire Ronin: ***looks at last chapter* O_O Oh, dear god! I must have been in such a rush that I didn't see those. Geez! I'm a college grad; I should know better. Oh, well! Brownie points to my long-time reviewer and reader. I would love to try archery, too! I'm thinking of taking lessons nearby when they offer them again.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER TWELVE

For the tenth time in the last half hour, Emily let out a loud, frustrated sigh. She had spent the last day conducting an online search for Andrew and Annalise Wolfe, but no results had popped up yet. She rolled her desk chair back and rubbed at her eyes. Cooper, who lay under the desk, let out a loud huff as he shifted from his side to his back with his paws up.

"Hmm. You pitiful thing," Emily chuckled.

The dog picked his head up and drooped his ears as if pouting. Emily made an ah sound before reaching down to pat Cooper on the head.

"Alright, alright. I'll call it a night," Emily said, closing her laptop before standing.

As she left the room, Emily ignored the clock on the wall that read the time as 2:28A.M. She stumbled through the dark apartment as the exhaustion started to set in. Cooper caught up to her and walked on her side, nudging her leg and guiding her around to her room. However, she froze in the middle of the living room when she spotted her roommate entering the apartment.

It wasn't odd for Tom to come in during the wee hours of the morning, but it was his body language that gave him away. He was shielded something in his jacket on the side of his body not nearest her. He froze halfway to his room when he spotted Emily.

"_**What are you hiding?**_" Emily asked.

"Nothing," Tom said too quickly for Emily's tastes.

Even Cooper stopped trying to push Emily to her room to stare at Tom with his head cocked to his side. Emily felt like Tom was hiding something from her. She took a few steps closer, but he stepped further back into the shadows.

"_**What's wrong, Tom?**_"

Emily's question went unanswered as Tom dashed for the open door to his bedroom. He slammed it shut behind him and she could hear him lock it, too. Emily frowned before looking down at Cooper.

"Did that seem weird to _you_?"

Cooper bobbed his head up and down like a head nodding. Emily scratched her head confused.

Then she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm going to bed," she mumbled. "Maybe things will be clearer after a few hours of sleep."

/…/

Five and a half hours later, at close to eight o'clock, things were not clearer. If anything else, they had become cloudier. Emily was shocked to find Tom gone when she popped her head in to see if he was awake and hungry. The young blonde knew from the schedule taped to the fridge that Tom didn't have work for the next three days. Normally, Tom would have slept in to about five in the afternoon.

"Now that I think about it, he's been acting a little weird lately," Emily murmured out loud to herself.

Emily sat down with her bowl of cheerios while Cooper lay under the table munching on leftover ham from the fridge. It bothered her that Tom was being secretive all of the sudden. She had only known him for about six months yet she couldn't help but take it personal.

I've been nothing but open and honest with him. I would hope he would give me the same courtesy, Emily thought.

She was brought out of her moody thoughts by a loud banging on the apartment door. Emily wiped off her face with a napkin and stood up to answer the door. There was a delivery man at the door with a medium-sized package in his arms.

"Package for an Emily…Date?" the man said, looking at the label on the package.

"That's me," Emily answered.

He handed her an electronic clipboard which she signed with a pen. She handed it back and in return he handed her the package. She nudged the door closed with her foot and walked back over to the dinner table. Cooper, who had stood up from his resting place, moved her cereal out of the way by moving the bowl with his snout.

"Thanks, Coop," Emily told him as she set the package down.

She wasn't surprised to see Japan as the return address. Ryo's heads up about Kento's package had left her nervous about leaving the apartment for long periods of time. She retrieved a pair of scissors from a drawer and sliced through the thick layer of tape.

"You overdo it with the tape every time, Ken," Emily mumbled as she ripped up chunks of tape.

One big ball of tape got stuck all around her hands. It took her several minutes (and many uttered

curse words) to stuff the tape away into the trash can. Ryo wasn't kidding when he had said Kento had been sending her a special care package.

The package contained all of her favorite things. There were funny pictures drawn by Kento, a tin of Cye's homemade white chocolate and cranberry cookies, and even a letter from Yuli.

Dear Emily-san,

Cye told me you have been feeling sad so I wrote you a letter. I am doing great! School is hard. I need help with math. It doesn't make sense to me. Rowen tried helping. He made my head hurt. I wish you were here.

A big smile broke out across Emily's face before she cracked up laughing. She remembered well the last time the young boy had asked Rowen for help with his math homework. Rowen had sworn never to tutor Yuli again.

Apparently, the word never has a new definition, Emily thought.

She went through the contents of the package with a smile on her face. There was a card signed by the ronins, Yuli and Mia. The item she liked the most in the package was a small photograph of the ronins in a dark brown frame. It took her ten minutes to find the perfect spot to hang the picture up.

Suddenly, she got a good look at the time and swore.

"I'm going to be late for math!"

She threw on her shoes, grabbed up her backpack and bolted out the door; she knew Cooper would lock the door behind her. She flew down the sidewalk in the direction of the campus. She ran off the sidewalk and around a large group waiting at a bus stop. Emily leaped back up onto the sidewalk before bolting across a crosswalk.

Emily did a leaping jump over a student bent down tying his shoe. She moved quickly across the college's West Lawn and zipped into an open door of the main academic building which was propped open by a trash can. The blonde took two steps at a time as she sprinted up three flights of stairs.

She slid to a stop long enough to open the door to the fourth floor hallway. She made it to the end of the hall and outside room 415 at precisely at 8:59:45am. Emily stopped abruptly, her hand on the doorknob, when she spotted a small orange note taped to the door.

**Class: MAT 135 C**

**Teacher: Mr. Marsden**

**Date: 11/14/12 Time: 8:00-8:50AM**

**Class is cancelled.**

Emily's eyebrows narrowed down into a deep frown as she began mumbling.

"Of course! I rushed over here for _nothing_. Oh, that is just typical!"

After Emily had calmed her heart and temper down, she trudged downstairs and wandered over to the counseling cottage. Normally, she would see Dr. Walker after her mathematics course, but she thought maybe he would able to see her early today.

Luck turned out to be on her side as Dr. Walker admitted her when she showed up. He greeted her with a pat on the shoulder and a smile.

"You're a bit early this morning, Emily," he commented.

He sat down on his couch with a steaming hot cup of coffee. Emily took a seat opposite of him in a chair and laid her backpack down against her chair leg.

"My math class was apparently cancelled," she told him.

Dr. Walker sipped his coffee while making an hmm sound. He placed his cup down on a coaster and leaned forward with his arms across his knees.

"When we last left off, we were discussing your family, the family you've always been a part of. Then we talked about what you know about your biological family and what it is you really feel you need to know about them."

Emily nodded.

"My family is and always will be my parents, grandfather, brother and sisters. I know that I was born the daughter of Andrew and Annalise Wolfe. I feel that I should know why I was given up for adoption and what type of people they were. Currently, my brother and a very close friend of ours are conducting their own searches on my birth parents. I've been looking as well," Emily explained.

"Has anything been found out?" Dr. Walker asked.

Emily shook her head.

"Nothing overly relevant. I looked over my birth certificate with my parents and they think I should visit some of the area hospitals to see if I can locate the hospital I was born at," Emily answered.

Dr. Walker agreed with her that it sounded like a good plan. They spoke for another hour with Dr. Walker asking Emily about the family she grew up with. She told him all about her childhood, moments with her siblings, and helping run the family dojo.

When the hour was over, Emily stood and said goodbye. Before she left, the counselor asked her about her plans for Thanksgiving next week. Emily shrugged.

"I haven't really given it much thought. Everyone will out of town visiting their families," Emily answered.

"Well, I've talked it over with my wife and we would like to extend an invitation for you to join us for Thanksgiving dinner," Dr. Walker told her.

Emily's face brightened considerably.

"Are you sure I won't be imposing?" Emily asked, a frown marring her features.

Dr. Walker nodded with a smile.

"Not at all, Emily. We would be delighted to have you join us."

"Okay, Samuel. I would be happy to join you both for Thanksgiving. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll see you at the end of the week."

/…/

At the end of classes that day, the plaza and West Lawn filled with people. There was a large area of the plaza that was absent of people as Emily and her friend Max who was playing Casper in the play stood in the center. The theater had not sold a lot of tickets for the play so the group had decided to take advertising to a whole another level.

While Elizabeth Ann and another one of the actors were performing a scene in the college library, Emily and Max were doing one outside on the plaza. It had taken many signed waivers and sweet-talk with the Deans & campus security to get the go-ahead for this particular scene.

"What do you want, fresh meat?" Max asked, taking on the role of the older student Casper.

Emily stood tall as she dropped her backpack down beside her.

"I want you to show me how to play pool," she said in a clear voice.

Max threw his head back to bark out a loud, single laugh. He brought his head back and shook his head while dropping the case that carried his pool cue.

"I don't "play" _pool._ I shoot billiards." He scoffed. "You got to prove your worth, **first**, before I'd even consider passing down my knowledge to a freshman."

"How?" Emily asked.

Music started playing out of a stereo as Max said, "Let's see if you can learn." Max picked up a trio of apples and juggled them high up in the air, matching the beat of the music. One by one, he threw the apples across the few feet to Emily. She caught each of them easily and twirled around while juggling the apples. After pulling off the same exact movements as Max, Emily ended with catching all three apples above her head in both hands.

Max smirked as if slightly impressed. He ran across the plaza to a bench where he leaped up onto the seat, pushed off the top of the backing, and did a front flip in the air while tucking his legs in. Emily smiled before sprinting across the plaza to perform the same move over a bench diagonal from him. Then, to push the point home, Emily raised one arm and made the gesture that said _Bring it on_.

The crowd had grown a bit more as students watched in fascination. Max backed up several feet from the bench before taking off. He did a front handspring, step out, round off, back handspring, step out, round off again, back handspring, and ended with a full twisting lay out[1], ending with him on the other side of the bench. A lot of people whistled and catcalled when he twisted his body to land perfectly safe on the plaza pavement.

Emily hesitated for a second. She gave the crowd a quick glance around. There was that odd feeling again. That feeling that someone was watching her. Yeah, okay, there were _many_ someones watching, but it still unnerved her.

Sighing, Emily was certainly glad they had planned this all ahead of time. She took off in a jog and copied the movements perfectly. The crowd cheered even louder as the two walked closer until they were nose-to-nose. The music died down in the background as did the crowd who wanted to hear their next words. Max, who was about a head taller than Emily, looked down at her and smirked again.

"So the fresh meat has some skills, after all. We'll see what happens when you're in front of a billiards table," he told her.

Emily smirked before just barely nodding her head. Then she stepped out away from Max and took his hand before they both bowed to their audience. Everyone clapped and cheered. When the noise had died down, Max spoke.

"Thank you, thank you, one and all! This was just a demonstration from one of the scenes of our winter play that we will be performing the Wednesday of final exams week, just a short time after Thanksgiving. Tickets are on sale at the box office. Student rate is $3 and faculty is $2. Please come out and enjoy the show!" he announced.

The two smiled and took another bow as the crowd gave them another cheer. Emily smiled weakly. She still couldn't shake the feeling that someone's eyes were burning a hole in her. Emily tried to put it off as stress-induced nerves over all the issues going on in her life.

I'm sure it's nothing, Emily thought.

END OF CHAPTER TWELVE

[1] I just love this scene from the movie, "Bring It On." Check out this video to see the series of flips mentioned in the story: watch/an-ejnKYnn7hbbYt/bring_it_on_2000_cheerleading_tryouts_part_3/. Start it at about 00:50 and end at about 01:20.


	14. Chapter 13

**Vampire Ronin: ***looks again* Good gods! I think I'm getting too excited about my own story and not looking at it closely enough in editing.

**jerseygurl02: **You're getting as excited as I am about the story. Oooh, oooh! Gods, you are getting close, but not quite. You have a lot of good ideas yourself. I've been working on this one carefully so I hope you like it.

**TheWhiteWanderer: **Thanks so much. I will keep bringing out the new chapters.

**collegegal:** Thank you! I just love that scene. Here's my next chapter!

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

In this chapter of "Trouble Follows Little Sister," Emily and Cooper visit several area hospitals and meet someone who makes Emily very thankful for what she has. Meanwhile, Cye receives good news from a friend in England and someone is being stalked.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

It was early Saturday morning when Emily left the apartment with Cooper by her side. She put a special therapy bandana around his neck which would allow him access to most public places, including hospitals. They jogged together to the hospital in town. Emily didn't have any trouble coming inside with Cooper and finding someone that could help her. Sadly, they had no information on her at the hospital.

Next, the two of them hopped onto a bus that took them south to the next town across the county line. They did several hops off and on busses, going from hospital to hospital. All of them agreed that Emily's birth certificate bore a resemblance to those issued by Florida hospitals yet none could provide her further information.

Towards the end of the day, Emily decided to visit one last hospital before going home. At close to five in the afternoon, she was several hours north at the area hospital. She and Cooper were very close to the state border now. The two walked through the front doors and over to the customer service desk. Sitting behind the desk was an elderly woman with a look to kill on her face.

"You can't bring that mutt in here," she snapped.

Emily raised an eyebrow. Any normal person would have been intimidated, but after having gone through many _many_ dates with her brother along as chaperone, she could handle just about anything. Emily showed her brother's customary smirk.

"Watch me," Emily said.

Instead of asking her question, Emily walked with Cooper over to another desk where a person had just left from finishing paperwork. The older gentleman sitting at the desk smiled at her.

"Hello there. Can I help you?" he asked.

Emily's anger dissolved as she explained the reason she was there. At least the short version. The gentleman understood and sympathized with her. He offered to help her as much as he could. He accessed the database on his computer using the search parameters Emily gave him.

"There have been over 1,000 Andrews listed as the father on our birth certificates and there are less than 50 Annalise's. There are about twenty matches with both names listed on birth

certificates. What was your full name?" he asked.

"Emily Annalise Wolfe," Emily answered.

He smiled and told her it was a beautiful name. Emily blushed while Cooper let out a suspicious snort. When the man wasn't looking, she tapped the dog lightly on the muzzle with the back of her hand. The man spent several minutes switching between typing on his computer and talking to someone on the phone.

"-yes? Yes, I'm looking at the certificate right now. It does certainly look like a Florida birth certificate, but the location and county of birth are too worn down to read. Yes? Okay. Thanks anyway, Richard."

The man hung up the phone before turning a sad smile to Emily.

"You couldn't find out anything," Emily stated.

He nodded while reaching forward to hand her birth certificate back. She placed it carefully in her backpack and thanked the man. They stood at the same time and shook hands.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more of a help to you. I understand how hard it can be to not find the information you want," he apologized.

Cooper nudged against Emily's side and whined quietly. Emily smiled sadly down at him. She had promised he could actually do some pet therapy work today. She returned her gaze to the kind man.

"Do you have any children in the hospital that we could cheer up?" she asked.

The man's face brightened before he clasped his hands together. He walked around the side of his desk to clap Emily gently on the shoulder.

"We, thankfully, don't have children at this current moment, but I do know of someone who would greatly enjoy your visit. Danielle is in room 424. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and go down the hall before hanging a right and head to the far right corner. Tell her Grandpa Bill sent you."

Emily glanced over at the desk where the "dragon lady" stood with her gaze piercing a hole into her and Cooper. "Grandpa Bill" snorted.

"Don't mind her. She's just mad because someone dropped a house on her sister." Emily gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "We get pet therapy teams through here all the time."

Emily just nodded her head and walked with Cooper across the lobby to the elevators. She kept her hand clapped over her mouth until after the elevator doors closed. Once the lift started ascending, she dropped her hand and started laughing. She had never quite heard that unique

reference to the Wizard of Oz used before.

By the time the elevator had reached the fourth floor, Emily had effectively calmed herself down. She held Cooper's leash loosely in her hand as they walked down the hallway. A few nurses in the hall nodded to them when they passed. Emily kept an eye on the door numbers as they turned right and headed to the end of the hallway.

Emily stopped with Cooper in the doorway of room 424. There was a single occupant in the room and the atmosphere was light with the television turned off. Danielle was a young woman with long blonde hair that was mostly dyed bright blue. Emily noticed her eyes were a beautiful, autumn-like orange when she turned her towards them.

"Hello," Emily said as they entered the room.

"Hello. Who are you?" she asked.

"My name's Emily," she answered.

Right away, she noticed there was something odd about the girl sitting in the hospital bed. Emily ignored the obvious scratches and other injuries marked on the girl. However, it was a little unnerving to see Danielle not blink and turn her head but not her eyes towards Emily.

"Hello, Emily. I'm Danielle. Do you work here?" she asked.

Emily shook her head. "No. I'm from out of town. Me and Cooper here. Grandpa Bill sent us up."

Danielle chuckled.

"I thought I heard dog tags. I don't suppose Grandpa Bill told you my story," she said.

"No, I'm sorry he didn't."

Danielle smiled before reaching up to close her eyelids manually using her fingers. This act very much confused Emily and it appeared Cooper felt the same, if his halfcocked head was anything to go by.

"I should start with telling you I'm blind. I developed cancer in my retinas when I was seven and they had to remove my eyes." Emily cringed. "My eyes are prosthetic."

"They're a beautiful color," Emily murmured.

Danielle smiled and thanked her. She proceeded to explain the reason she was in a hospital bed. Emily was shocked to hear that Danielle, who was only a year younger than her, had been involved with a hit-and-run only two days ago. They were keeping her at the hospital for a week to monitor her injuries.

"Why is that?" Emily asked, confused.

"When the truck hit me, it pushed my friend's car into a pole on my side of the car. They're making sure there's no damage to any of my internal organs," Danielle explained.

"But that's not even the worst part," Danielle added.

Emily tried to think of what could be worse than a hit and run where the police were still looking for the other driver and having to spend a week in the hospital. So she waited patiently for the other girl to continue.

"When the accident happened, my friend was taking me to the airport to visit my family. You see, my family lives in Alaska while I go to school here. They can't come to me because my father's overseas on important business and my mother has to take care of my twin brothers. They're only in fourth grade and can't afford to miss the school time," Danielle told her.

Emily immediately felt her heart drop into her stomach. If something like this had happened to her, the entire family and the ronins would have been in the States as quick as humanly possible.

She felt even worse when Danielle explained that her roommate had come to spend time with her but had left early that morning to join her family for Thanksgiving next week. The young blind woman had only been at her college for a month and the very few friends she had were all out of town for the holiday.

"What happened to your friend? The one driving the car?" Emily asked.

"He's fine. He barely got a scratch on him. He was more shaken up than anything else," she answered.

"Do you mind if I put Cooper on the bed with you?" Emily asked softly.

Danielle nodded. "I would like that. I miss my family's dogs."

Emily smiled as she bent down to pick up Cooper. The dog held still as she tucked her arms carefully but strongly behind his front and back paws. He leaned onto her before she lifted him up and stood. With the strength of Hardrock's armor, Emily picked him up with ease and set him down on the bed just to the side of Danielle.

Something about Cooper surprised Danielle. She jumped a bit when the large dog was laid down beside her and he laid his head down on her stomach. Danielle laughed as she brought her hands down to pet Cooper.

"The way you were talking I was thinking he was a Shih Tzu or some other small dog," Danielle chuckled.

Cooper's sarcastic-sounding snort was covered up by Emily's laugh as she sat down in a chair next to Danielle's bed.

"Danielle, this is Cooper. He's a German White Shepherd," Emily introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Cooper," Danielle said, leaning down to place a soft kiss on top of his head.

Emily felt a sense of warmth radiate throughout her body when she noticed the happy expression on the other female's face. Danielle's story touched her and it made her feel better to know that she was cheering her up. It also made her very thankful for the people in her life. Even if she never found out anything about her birth parents, she was forever sure of herself that her family and the ronins would always be there.

/…/

"Cye!" Sayoko exclaimed as she yanked him into a bear hug.

Cye smiled as his older sister attempted to squeeze the life out of him in the form of a hug. It had been a while since the two siblings had gotten together. They separated with equally happy smiles on their faces.

"It's good to see you, too. Where's mom?" Cye asked.

Sayoko and her husband Malikai were living with Cye and Sayoko's mother to help her with her work as an artisan. She made beautiful pottery and sold it down at the local square where all the other artisans were. Unfortunately, she was often very ill so the two had to trade off making appearances for her down at the square.

"She and Malikai are down at the square. She was feeling well enough to go for a few hours," Sayoko answered.

Cye smiled wide. "That's awesome!"

The two siblings shared some laughs as Cye lugged his suitcase upstairs to his old room. His mother had left it just the way he had it for occasions like this when he visited them. He felt bad he didn't visit his family more but that happened when you lived with your friends in Japan and your family lived in England. The British air did wonders for his mother's health.

Sayoko knocked on the doorframe of Cye's room, gaining his attention almost immediately. She held out a piece of paper to him which he took.

"About an hour before you arrived, Mr. Warren called for you. He left you a message," she said.

"Thanks, sis."

Sayoko patted the doorframe while smiling and leaving. Cye sat down on his bed as he unfolded the letter. As he read the note, his face broke out in a big grin.

_Cye,_

_May have found the mother. Annalise Foster, widow of an Andrew W. Match to all information you gave me._

Cye saw an address below and he was in luck. The address was that of a farm out in Somerset. It would take a good amount of time to get there so it would have to wait until tomorrow. However, Cye had a good feeling in his heart.

This could be it. I could have found Emily's birth mother, Cye thought.

With Thanksgiving less than five days away, perhaps Cye's prayers had been answered. Only tomorrow would be able to tell. Cye stood up and walked downstairs in search of his sister. He had some plans to break and apologies to give out.

/…/

She ran a finger over the spines of books before finding the one she was looking for. She pulled it off the shelf and carried it over to the table. There were papers spewed all over the table in a disorganized manner. She opened the library book, checked the index, and flipped to the appropriate page.

Her paper wasn't due until after the Thanksgiving break, but she wanted to get it done before the short holiday break. She picked up her pencil to write down some notes from the book. She flipped back to the front so she could cite her source accurately.

Unknown to the studious student, a pair of eyes were watching her every moment. She couldn't feel their piercing gaze as she moved papers around, made notes and ignored everyone else in existence. She let out a low curse when her pencil broke. She began mumbling in her native Japanese tongue.

The eyes shifted from the window. The woman was unaware as a lone figure slinked down the rows of shelves towards her. They stopped short of reaching her and watched her for a few moments. She dropped her pencil and let out an exasperated sigh. She scooted her chair back and

dropped down to pick it up. The figure moved forward suddenly, stopping almost right behind her.

"Elizabeth Ann!"

Her head snapped up just in time to see Hunter walk around the corner. He smiled when he spotted her. He walked up to Elizabeth Ann as she used the side of the table to pull herself up.

"I heard you were over here. What are you working on?" Hunter asked, stepping close to peer down at the papers.

"Research paper. I'm about halfway through it now. I'm hoping to get it finished before Thanksgiving," Elizabeth Ann answered.

Hunter nodded in complete understanding.

"I remember when," he said with a grin.

Elizabeth Ann glared at him. "You only graduated from college a year ago. It wasn't _that_ long ago."

Hunter chuckled while nodding his head. The two started conversing together with Hunter offering tips for Elizabeth Ann on her paper. The figure had disappeared in the shadows of the bookshelves. The gaze was set on Elizabeth Ann but then shifted to Hunter. As if feeling the gaze burn a hole into the back of his head, Hunter turned his head around to look carefully into the shadows.

Although he could have sworn he had felt someone else's presence, there didn't appear to be anyone else in the area. Hunter shrugged his shoulders and turned back around.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Kento: Okay, people! I'm here to expose the truth. Tigergirl's going to Orlando this weekend and she's not taking me with her!

Tigergirl: *glare* _I am going to a __**conference.**_ You would be bored out of your skull!

Kento: *shrug* Sure, sure. That's what you've been telling everyone. But I know the _real_ reason! You're going to Sea World and Animal Kingdom.

Tigergirl: *reaches for a frying pan*

Kento: *backs up nervously* Of course, I could be mistaken. *dashes out of the room with Tigergirl chasing after him*

Ryo: *steps into the room with Rowen* Oookay. So Tigergirl is posting this chapter a little earlier than usual because she'll be out of town this weekend.

Rowen: She'll have plenty of time to work on the next chapter, but won't be able to post until late Sunday. So she decided to post it now rather than later.

Ryo & Rowen: Read, relax, and review!


	15. Chapter 14

**Guest:** (from Chapter 1) Thank you.

**jrzgrl02: **I certainly do try [to keep my audience in suspense]. "Shadow leech," huh? That's a nice way of describing it. As for Cye, you'll see what happens with that below. So many questions, so many answers, so many chapters to write!

**collegegal: **Cye will be meeting Annalise in this chapter. Ooh, what a mystery it is of who was in the shadows. That's actually my plan for the…fourth story. This is the second and I have another planned after. The fourth will be a sort of what happened before and what happened between the first two stories.

**TheWhiteWanderer: **Thank you. I try to make my stories come to life and keep my readers/reviewers on the edge of their seats.

**Author's Note: I just want to note that this chapter took me a long time to write. I kept changing my mind about how I wanted to word it and layout the different pieces. I actually wrote the second part FIRST.**

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

In this chapter of "Trouble Follows Little Sister," Emily enjoys a Thanksgiving celebration with her new friend and mentor Dr. Samuel Walker and his wife. Meanwhile, Cye meets with Annalise, who used to be married to Andrew W.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The oven beeped loudly, alerting the apartment resident that the dish was done. Emily yanked the bathroom door open and dashed around the corner and into the kitchen. She jammed her finger into the oven timer button to stop the irritating beeping. She opened the oven door and reached in for her dish.

Normally, she would have used oven mitts but that was only if Tom was in the apartment. The power of Wildfire allowed her to handle great amounts of heat without burning herself. She placed the sweet potato casserole down on a potholder and closed the oven door with her foot. Reaching over the stove, Emily turned the oven dial to off and flicked its light off.

She took in the sweet aroma of the dish. She knew Samuel and his wife would be expecting her soon. Thankfully, she still had access to Tom's car. Despite his odd behavior over the last week, Tom had left his car for her to use, having chosen to use the public transportation system to get home for Thanksgiving.

Normally, Emily would have asked to bring Cooper (and Samuel would have more than likely said yes), but she didn't want to impose. This is why the large white canine was off sulking somewhere. Actually, as Emily walked around the apartment grabbing things, she realized that she couldn't locate the canine _anywhere_ in the apartment.

"He's gone and done it _again_," Emily mumbled, setting her hands on her hips.

The odd canine was known for disappearing from the apartment at time to time. Even after two years of him doing this (having started doing it back in Japan), Emily couldn't quite understand it. She never saw him slip out the door or even out the second story window. Later, she would find his tail sticking out from under the bed or him curled up on her bed.

Almost as if he were there the whole time, Emily said to herself.

Emily shook herself out of her thoughts when she realized it was getting late. She grabbed up the dish carefully and carried it outside, making sure to lock the apartment door behind her. She climbed into Tom's car, placed the dish on the passenger seat, and pulled out of the parking space.

Emily drove out of the apartment complex and onto the main road. She directed the car down the main road and was almost to the interstate before she turned right at a traffic light. She drove around taking a few more turns before pulling into the driveway of a medium-sized house. As Emily climbed out of the car with her dish, the front door opened and Samuel stepped out.

It was bizarre to see the older gentleman in "dress down" clothing. The man normally wore a collared shirt and slacks or a shirt and coat (with no tie). Today, he was wearing a light blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and blue jeans. He greeted her cheerfully with a clap on the shoulder.

"I'm glad you could make it, Emily. Come on inside," Samuel said.

"Thanks, Samuel," Emily replied.

Samuel led her inside to a nice foyer with a fish tank nearby. There was a room and bathroom off to the right which they passed. The house then opened up into a large living room with a vaulted ceiling. The living room consisted of a fireplace, a couch with two armchairs, small coffee table, and a wall-mounted big screen. Beyond that, Emily could see a kitchen and dining room off to the left.

An elderly woman with long silver gray hair walked around the kitchen counter drying her hands with a small dishcloth. As the woman came nearer, Emily could see she possessed a pair of bright green eyes behind a pair of small-rimmed glasses. She greeted Emily with a hug and gently took the dish from her.

"Dear, I would like you to meet my very special student, Emily. Emily, this is my wife, Lucille," Samuel introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Emily. My husband has told me a lot about you," Lucille said softly.

Emily turned her head to mock glare at Samuel who grinned sheepishly. "He has, has he?"

Samuel barked out a loud chuckle as he left the two women alone to disappear into the kitchen. Lucille offered to give Emily a tour of the house. The house turned out to be two-story with another bedroom, the master bedroom, and the laundry room on the ground floor. At the end of the hall to the left was a carpeted staircase which wrapped around the corner. Lucille led Emily upstairs to an open area and a separate room.

"This is my craft area and in there is our entertainment playroom for the grandchildren," Lucille explained.

Emily agreed with the second statement when she poked her head in. Children would _love_ to play in this room! There was a large assortment of puzzles and board games, a video game system complete with many games and a large TV, and a large bookcase full of books.

"Thank you."

Emily squinted up her face before turning back around to face her counselor's wife. Huh?

"You've brought great joy into my husband's life. He's always spoken highly of you with the work you do with the Ambassadors, but something changed when he started seeing you for counseling. He seems…more at peace," Lucille said, struggling for her words.

Emily knew that because of the privacy of counseling sessions that it was highly unlikely Lucille knew anything about what she had been discussing with Samuel. So she decided to tell her.

"I started seeing your husband because I have been suffering from horrible nightmares. And I recently found out I'm adopted."

A look of understanding appeared on Lucille's face.

"Ah, I see."

The two enjoyed a moment of quiet peace shared between them until they heard Samuel call up them. They walked back downstairs and joined Samuel in the dining room. The trio sat down at the table with Samuel sitting at the head of the table and both women on either side of him. Samuel asked Emily if she would mind them saying a prayer.

"I don't mind," Emily murmured.

"Good. Then let us bow our heads." They closed their eyes and bowed their heads.

"Heavenly Father, we thank you for this feast before us. We hope that you bless this food to our bodies and to our souls. Bless those who could not be with us today. Bless our loved ones who are no longer with us but still hold a special place in our hearts."

Samuel took a small, deep breath before continuing.

"Lord, please protect those victims of recent attacks. Our hearts go out to them in these trying days and we pray they have a safe recovery. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

"Amen."

The three started digging into the feast on the table with passing bowls back and forth. Emily pulled a small pile of mashed potatoes, stuffing and a corn on the cob onto her plate. Samuel cut her some pieces of turkey and placed them on her plate.

They dined and chatted about several different topics.

"What's your major, Emily? I'm afraid Samuel never mentioned that," Lucille asked.

Emily finished chewing up some corn before swallowing and answering.

"I'm undecided right now. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do," Emily confessed.

Lucille smiled at her reassuringly. She simply asked what made Emily come all the way to the States to attend college.

"During my freshmen year of high school, I visited the States with my family and one of our stops was in Florida. We came by the college and I convinced my older sister, Yayoi, to take me on a tour. I fell in love with the campus. I had lunch at the student union and I spoke to a few students while we were there. I visited other schools over the years, but I knew Pineview was the school for me."

Everything went by in a blur as the food dwindled and Samuel walked Emily out to her car while Lucille packed up the leftovers. Samuel pulled Emily into a hug, patting her gently on the head.

"I'll see you next week at our usual time. Enjoy the rest of your break, Emily," he told her.

"Thank you, Samuel."

Emily unlocked the driver side door of Tom's car and climbed in. Looking in the rearview mirror, she wasn't surprised to see a familiar furry companion sitting up in the backseat.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Coop."

Cooper panted with his tongue hanging out before emitting a short bark.

/…/

/_Four days earlier_/

Cye drove down the dirt road towards the farm at the end of the road. It had taken quite a bit of time to drive out to the home where Annalise lived. He felt bad coming out without having called first, but he hadn't been able to find a phone number for her or her husband. He could feel his heart beating madly in his chest, his anxiety increasing with every second.

This could be it, Cye thought as he pulled up to the farm.

He pulled off to the side of the road and into the grass. The farm consisted of the long fenced-in acreage that housed horses and cows, a stable, the farmhouse and other buildings. As Cye stepped out of the car and held up his hand to shield his eyes from the burning sun, he spotted someone on the porch.

As he walked up to the farmhouse, Cye was able to see the person better. An older woman with light blonde hair streaked with gray strands was sitting in a rocking chair. She had a thick, colorful blanket laid out over her lap and she appeared to be reading a small book. She looked up as Cye came near. The woman marked her place in the book before placing it down in her lap.

She brought her hands up take her small-framed reading glasses down. She smiled at him as he stopped at the bottom of the porch stairs.

"Hello, dear. What can I do for you?" she greeted him.

"Hello, mam. I'm looking for Mrs. Annalise Tredell," Cye replied.

"And who may I ask is looking for little ol' me?" she said cheerfully.

Cye reached his hand out and introduced himself. Annalise shook his hand gently before offering him a seat and some lemonade. Cye sat down on a stationary chair that sat beside Annalise's rocker. She poured him a cup of lemonade which he quietly thanked her for.

"What brings you all the way out here to see me, Cye? It's not every day I get a visitor. A few people come out to see Edgar, but he'll be away for another day," Annalise said.

Cye finished taking a sip of the sweet lemonade before placing his cup down next to the pitcher. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"I came to ask you about something. Or, someone," Cye replied.

Annalise leaned back in her rocking chair and regarded Cye with a soft gaze. The young man was wringing his hands tightly in his lap as if he were nervous about the subject. She reached a hand out to lay over his. This calming motion seemed to return Cye's courage to him.

"I have this friend who has three sisters. He found out a few months ago that his younger sister is adopted. She's been adopted since she was a few months old. We've all been trying to help her adjust to the news and finding her answers about her birth parents."

Annalise sat quietly and listening to the young man, even as he started to ramble a little. He went on to explain that she was attending college in the States and that they had yet to find any additional information about her birth parents.

"I'm sorry, Cye. I don't see how I can help you or your friend," Annalise told him.

"Her name is Emily. Emily Annalise Wolfe. Her birth parents were Andrew and Annalise Wolfe. I've been conducting my own search with trying to locate them. That's how I found you. I know you had a daughter who you named Emily and that your first husband's name was Andrew," Cye whispered, his voice so quiet Annalise almost didn't hear him.

The older woman gasped softly as comprehension dawned on her. She brought her free hand up to cover her mouth as she stared at the hopeful expression on Cye's face. Annalise turned her head away slowly to hide her watery eyes.

For a moment, Cye thought he had said something to upset her but her surprisingly rough grip on his hands tightened slightly. When she turned back to face him, she had a small, genuine smile on her face. She dropped her hand from her mouth to reach into her pocket and pull out a small folded-up paper. Annalise held the paper gently in her lap with both hands.

"I haven't heard either of their names in a long time. Andrew…dear Andrew was the greatest man in my life. He had such a strong voice, but a gentle heart. He was a woodworker and made some of the finest pieces of furniture this side of the country." Annalise sighed. "I miss him so."

Cye listened intently with bated breath.

"Emily was such a beautiful child. When she was born, we were both so ecstatic, but at the time life was very hard for us. We were older parents at the time. I was going back to school at the time and Andrew was between jobs. But…we made it work. My beautiful Emily grew to be my

perfect little girl. My little evening star."

She turned her smile to him as she unfolded the paper and handed it to him. Now it was Cye's turn to quietly gasp.

"I was away when it happened. Emily was only five. Andrew had taken her out on a horseback ride with a group. Her horse was only a few feet from him when something spooked it. No one was quite sure if it was a snake or something else. The horse was the gentlest creature in the world."

The paper was an old newspaper cutout with the words ACCIDENT AT HAPPY TRAILS in big bold letters. There was a picture of a small, smiling child that resembled Emily a little when she was younger.

Cye almost couldn't hold back the tears as he heard how Annalise's daughter had been thrown from the horse. Everyone had gone into a panic but thankfully the group guide and Andrew had been certified in first aid. They had quickly radioed for a helicopter and gotten her stable until the helicopter had arrived. While she had been flown straight to the nearest hospital, Andrew had rushed his horse back to the stables then drove straight to the hospital.

"Andrew was lucky enough to arrive not far behind her at the hospital. You see, the guide had radioed back to the stables and Andrew was given a police escort directly to the hospital. From there, everything just happened so quickly.

Emergency room…broken wrist…severe head injury…scan…doctors…specialist...

decisions to make. Upon getting the call from Andrew, Annalise had rushed three hours to the hospital. With their daughter in intensive care, there had been very few options for the married couple.

"She managed to make it through the night but then there was nothing we could do the next day. Emily, my little evening star, passed away on September 2, 1999, at the age of five and a half. Two years later, Andrew suffered a heart attack and passed away," Annalise finished.

Cye's bottom lip quivered before he bit down on it hard and turned his head away.

My gods! She was only five, he thought.

A gentle hand touched his arm and pulled him up from his seat. Annalise hooked an arm around his elbow and guided him down the steps. They started walking slowly over the grounds. Annalise spoke softly but with a strong tone. Her calm nature helped to calm his overload of emotions.

"I met my future husband Edgar in 2005. I thought it was too soon after Andrew, but Edgar made me so happy that I knew Andrew _and_ Emily would be happy for me. We married a year later on the anniversary of my little girl's birthday."

Cye fell into perfect step with Annalise as the older woman told her about the last few years with Edgar as they walked all around the farm. Annalise and Edgar going on a honeymoon to Ireland; Annalise moving onto the farm to live with Edgar; caring for the horses and other animals; Annalise knitting quilts and selling them in town; Edgar's only son visiting with his wife and son.

They talked throughout the day on many subjects with Annalise turning the conversation to Cye and asking him about his life. Then she asked about _his_ Emily. Cye told her all about the quirky yet fun tomboy. When it was finally time for Cye to return home, Annalise wished him a safe journey and told him to write her any time.

"I enjoyed our chat, Cye. I would love to hear from you again," she told him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you. And I will."

Cye closed his car door and backed out. As he drove back down the dirt path, he couldn't help but notice the beaming smile on the woman's face in his rearview mirror.

END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN

**Enjoy! **


	16. Chapter 15

**collegegal: **Thanks so much! I'm glad you appreciate my story and writing style.

**Vampire Ronin: **That was really weird. I hope you had fun with the Haunted House. As always, keep on reading.

**Jerseygurl02: **Very good review. As for Annalise, could be something or could just be the way I wrote it. Same for Samuel's wife. Oh, I'm sure we can all imagine the migraine poor Sage is getting from all this. In return sorry for taking so long to post this next chapter. It just took me soooo long to write it.

**RoseJustice: **Ooooh! A new reader and reviewer! Here's my update. The attacks are strange, aren't they? Hopefully this chapter will give you a little more to think about. As for Tom and the warlords, wait and see.

Kento: *walks into the room and finds Tigergirl asleep on the couch* *looks at Ryo sitting nearby reading a book* Why is our author sleeping? And where is Cye at?

Ryo: *looks up* She's been working really hard with this chapter and I'm pretty sure I saw Cye going into the kitchen with a jackhammer.

Kento: Jackhammer?

Ryo: *nods*

Kento: *walks away into the kitchen* Cye, what's going o.o..AH!

Ryo: *looks up again as Kento darts back into the room* What?

Kento: Do. you. KNOW. what's. in. there?!

Ryo: Is it Rowen's attempt at cooking again?

Kento: *shakes his head* _Worse._

Ryo: _Sage's _attempt at cooking?

Kento: Nooo.

/Sounds of a jackhammer hitting something hard emits from the kitchen. Sounds of cursing are accompanied by it./

Ryo: Then what is it?

Kento: It's…it's…it's…THE BLOCK!

Ryo: O_O No.

Kento: Yes.

Ryo: No!

Kento: YES!

Ryo: *slaps a hand over his face* OH, gods! Not THE WRITER'S BLOCK!

Kento: *sadly nods his head*

Ryo: Darn. Well, guess we better all help Cye breaking that thing up into pieces and grinding it down into dust. Tell Rowen to get that acid he's been working on.

Kento: *walks off to find Rowen*

Ryo: It appears that another reason why Tigergirl took so long that The Writer's Block temporarily moved in. Anywho, please enjoy this chapter!

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The evening sky was fading and very few residents were up at the moment. Bleary eyed and exhausted to the bone, Tom exited the apartment he shared with Emily to leave for work. Sleepy as he was, Tom opted to drive his car the short distance over to the college. As he climbed in and pulled out of his parking space, he missed seeing a white blur zip inside the apartment.

Cooper closed the apartment door with his back paw before wandering further inside. The large canine lapped up some water with his tongue to replenish himself. He licked his lips as he picked his head up and walked off. He wandered through the apartment to Emily's room where he found his human companion still fast asleep.

Walking over to the foot of the bed, Cooper jumped up onto the bed on the side Emily wasn't resting on. He laid down beside her with his head resting on her side where her ribs were. Cooper chose to lie awake watching over his companion rather than rest. He let out a small sigh that ended with a tiny whimper-like sound.

His gaze fell on the notebook sitting on Emily's bed stand. The blonde woman had been writing in it for many nights in a row. All the way up until she started seeing that older man whom she talked to twice a week. Intelligent as he was, Cooper knew the book contained details of the nightmares and night terrors Emily had been having at night.

Then again, Emily had told him all about them and sought out comfort from him at times. Ever since she had started seeing the man, the nightmares and night terrors had stopped. Emily couldn't figure out why, but she had told him it was maybe all psychological.

Cooper lifted his head as he felt Emily shift in her sleep. She let out a quiet sigh and yawned in her sleep before burrowing the side of her face further into her pillow. Not five minutes later, Emily's alarm came to life and his human let out a loud, low groan. Without lifting her head, Emily reached over and slammed a closed fist down on the snooze button.

Then she proceeded to press a button that turned the alarm off and pick it up to chuck it across the room. It made a quiet plop against the large body billow laid out on the floor against the wall; it was another place for Cooper to lie.

Knowing his companion's habits, Cooper was prepared for Emily to sleep in and miss her class. He stood up and shifted closer to her before unceremoniously dropping down. Because of his large size and close proximity to Emily, he shoved the lightweight girl off her bed and onto the floor. She landed with a hard thump on the carpeted floor between her bed and bed stand.

"_Cooper_."

With his head facing away from the disgruntled young woman, Cooper smirked. He felt Emily pull herself up using the comforter and bed. He shifted his head a little when Emily flicked him

hard on the back of his ear.

"One of these days I'm going to shove _you_ off the bed."

The canine highly doubted that but she was more than welcome to try. He stood up and jumped down from the bed to follow Emily around the apartment like a shadow. First, she walked over and turned up the thermostat to a warm 80°. Then she started fixing herself some hot tea by sticking a measuring cup of water in the microwave.

While she waiting for that, the apartment phone started ringing. Emily checked to make sure it wasn't the video phone since that was setup right next to the regular phone before snatching up the phone.

"This is apartment 220, Emily and Tom, Emily speaking. Nani? Oh, oh! I'm sorry. I didn't recognize your voice. Oh, well there's a reason why you couldn't reach me on my cell phone."

Cooper lowered his head and scrunched up his nose. He knew quite well why no one was going to be able to reach his companion on her cellular phone. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Emily's cell phone had come to its untimely demise. She had been washing a pan by hand in the sink with music playing on her phone and sitting by the other side of the sink.

Unfortunately, she hadn't realized there was a knife in the soapy water and had cut her finger. Instead of allowing the ronin power of the Halo armor to just heal it, Emily had dropped what she was doing and gone to the bathroom. She had washed her hands off then dabbed some iodine on the cut.

While this was going on, Tom had finished his lunch and was dropping the remains down the garbage disposal. Sadly, he had not been wearing his hearing aid and hadn't realized where Emily's phone was. He had bumped the small flip phone with his plate, sending it down the open gap to the disposal. Cooper who was nearby hadn't been able to alert Emily in time before Tom had flicked the switch for the garbage disposal.

Needless to say, that sound had not been pretty and Emily had freaked out. Cooper had never seen the young woman's hands fly as fast as they had as she had chewed her roommate out.

"…sure? Okay, okay. Let me get something to eat and jump in the shower, and then I'll get over there. Anyone have any dog allergies? Cool! Then I'll bring Cooper along."

Cooper's tail started wagging so fast it could have whipped off like a boomerang. He hadn't been listening, but he gathered enough information to know what was going on. As Emily hung up the phone and the microwave beeped, Cooper ran back into the bedroom. He dove under the bed and snatched up his bandana in his mouth.

Emily was chewing on a pop tart and soaking a tea bag when Cooper returned to her side. She finished eating her pop tart before taking the bandana from Cooper.

"There's a group of prospective students this morning that need an Ambassador and, apparently, my class was cancelled _again_. And there are no dog allergies among them. So guess who's going with me?" Emily said cheerfully, tying the bandana around his neck.

Cooper barked happily and licked Emily's face, causing her to scrunch up her face in mock disgust.

"Ugh."

Emily stood up straight, grabbed up her cup of tea, and made for the bathroom. Instead of following her, Cooper went in search of his harness. Whenever Emily had him accompany her on tours, she had to keep her hands free, but also had to leash him. After only a month, they had figured out how to make it work for both of them. He would wear a harness that was tethered to Emily's belt loop with the use of a long, thin leash.

Cooper was able to find to find the long, thin leash but not his harness. He sat outside the bathroom door, waiting to hear the shower to turn off. He didn't have to wait long to hear the water stop and the clinking of rings as the shower curtain was pushed aside. He pawed lightly at the door, but loud enough so Emily could hear him.

"Is it the leash or harness?" Emily called through the door.

The canine barked twice. Emily told him to check Tom's room. Cooper had to nudge the door to Tom's bedroom to enter. He found the harness easily and slipped it on. The only thing he had a problem with was closing the snaps on it. He started to leave the room when a scent caught his attention.

Cooper lifted his head higher to sniff at the air before shaking his head with a sneeze. There was an overpowering, _unfamiliar_ scent masking Tom's scent. Cooper became mildly concerned because the scent wasn't _human._

The canine felt he had better keep a closer eye on his companion's roommate. He rejoined Emily in the living room where she was smoothing down her hair after having blown dried and straightened it. When he stood beside her, she brought her hands down to snap his harness

closed. Emily picked up the leash and hooked it to his harness.

"Let's get to school, Coop." Woof!

/…/

"Good morning, everyone! My name is Emily Date. I'm from Japan and I am a freshman here at Pineview. I am currently an Undecided major and am taking a variety of classes to consider my options. This is Cooper." Emily motioned to the dog sitting beside her. "He is a White German Shepherd and my canine companion."

The small group of prospective students ooh'd and aah'd over the canine. Emily allowed them all to pet the canine as they introduced themselves. She asked each student to give their name, where they were from, and their prospective major.

"Phillip Morrison. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm looking at majoring in Psychology."

"Melany Kamp. My family lives in Houston and I want to major in Education."

"Karlee Addams. We're from Seattle. I'm undecided right now about my major."

Each student had a parent with them and Melany, the one from Houston, had twin brothers with her. After the introductions, Emily officially began the Ambassador tour.

"So, first we will start here at the Admissions Office. This is our Admissions Office, also known as the Helena McCoy Building. This is one of the oldest buildings on campus with one of its greatest features being its colonial architecture. Because of the low number of students, we have four Admission Counselors here."

She spoke a few more words about the building, the other people in the building, and about the Ambassadors. Then Emily started leading them around the campus. The long, thin leash attached to Cooper's harness was tethered to one of the belt loops on the side of Emily's jeans. Even though it gave him a wide amount of space, Cooper stayed very close to Emily's side.

Cooper was very on edge. There was something that was upsetting him and it wasn't the weird scent he had sniffed in Tom's room. On the outside, he behaved normal so as not to raise any suspicions in Emily. She pointed out one of the male dorms, the art building, and a building where some of the professors had their offices.

The small group stopped out in front of the library. Emily turned back around to face them.

"This is the O'Donnell Library. It is named after the first President of the college, William O'Donnell. The library was originally the third floor of the academic building which is located just across from here. We're going to go inside for a few minutes so you can meet one of the

Library Researchers."

She led the group inside where an elderly man greeted them cheerfully. He told them he was Mr. Harrison, the Head Librarian Researcher. As Emily waited for the short presentation to end, she couldn't help but notice the way Cooper's eyes seemed to dart all around. It was as though he were looking for something. She reached her hand down and scratched the top of his head.

Maybe he's not feeling good again, Emily thought.

She felt a sudden tap on her shoulder which made her jump. She turned around to face her roommate.

"**Hunter was looking for you,**" Tom signed.

"**Did he need something?**" Emily signed back.

Cooper's nose picked up that scent again but it was much stronger this time. So as not to frighten anyone, he held back a growl but kept a close eye on the male.

"**Yes. He asked me to tell you to meet at the theatre at one.**"

Emily frowned. The last rehearsal wasn't set up until tomorrow. They had decided to take off for today so as not to fray everyone's nerves before Opening Night.

"**Did he tell you why?**" Emily asked.

"**No. I have to go now and it looks like your group is ready.**"

Still slightly irritated with her friend and roommate, Emily thanked him for delivering the message. One of the parents asked who her friend had been as they walked outside and why they had been "gesturing" but not speaking.

"That was my roommate Tom. He's Deaf and that was actually sign language we were using to communicate with each other. He has a profound to severe hearing loss in one ear and his other ear has a mild to moderate hearing loss for which he wears a hearing aid."

From there on, she continued her tour. Cooper listened with mild interest as she took the group to the student union, the female dormitory, the dining hall and academic building. The last stop for the tour group was the auditorium and gymnasium.

"The building to my left, your right, is the college gymnasium. The gymnasium consists of two floors. The bottom floor holds three indoor concession stands, the offices for three of our coaches, and a large basketball court. The second floor has our full gym which is open to students and staff. It has a variety of machines and also has an area to do yoga, pilates, and other exercise aerobics."

Phillip raised his hand and waited until Emily nodded her head to speak.

"What hours is the gym open for?" he asked.

"The gym is open 24/7. After 6:00pm, they are only accessible by school IDs by using the scanners found right there by the doorway," she answered.

"The building just behind me is our prized auditorium. It was renovated this summer. The renovations included new lighting and sound systems, seats, acoustical panels, renovated restrooms, a new lobby layout and a new green room for performers and speakers before going on stage. They hold all the theater classes here and there are two professors whose offices are in here as well.

"In two days, we have our Opening Night for the school's play known as College Musical. Some of you may have heard of High School Musical?" Several nods and smiles. "This was loosely written from the idea of that movie. It's quite a hoot, if you any of you would like to catch it."

As Emily continued her speech on the auditorium, she failed to see a newcomer join the group in the back. He stood downwind where Cooper couldn't catch his scent. The canine was now sitting with barely any space between him and his companion while leaning heavily on her. He had his eyes closed and his tongue hanging out. He was simply enjoying the good breeze that had picked up.

The stranger didn't stick around for very long. He listened only for a few minutes before disappearing from the group. Emily flicked her eyes around the group while listening to a student question. Something felt…off.

/…/

Hunter stood up in front of everyone with a serious look on his face. Emily sat down next to a

freckled redhead with a sigh of relief. She had gone home to eat lunch and had left Cooper behind before coming back to meet with Hunter. It turned out that Hunter had called a meeting for everyone on the play.

"As some of you may notice, we are two cast members short," Hunter began.

Emily glanced around and immediately frowned. Elizabeth Ann and Max were missing. This could _not_ be good.

"We're going to have to put off the play until January." Gasps and outraged cries filled the stage. It took several moments for Hunter to get everyone calmed. "Elizabeth Ann had a family emergency and had to fly home. Max has completely lost his voice."

Someone asked about their understudies.

"They both went home for the winter break with the assumption we wouldn't need them."

That was a problem since the two lived in Washington and Oregon. So Hunter proceeded to explain that the date change had been announced around campus and in the local newspaper. He asked that everyone stick around for the afternoon to take a last minute look at everything. Emily started to stand and go back to wardrobe, but Hunter asked her to stay behind.

She waited until everyone had gone before walking over to Hunter.

"What's up, Hunter?" she asked.

"I have a guy in the lobby that was hoping to talk to Elizabeth Ann about her part in the play. Do you mind go talking to him for me? You've helped her out a lot with the part," Hunter requested.

"Sure. I'll go talk to him."

Rather than go to the stairs, Emily went to the edge of the stage and hopped down. She walked up the wheelchair ramp and out the auditorium exit to the lobby. She found a man who appeared a few years older than her standing in the lobby. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she walked over.

"I thought the director said you weren't here," he spoke softly.

Emily smiled with the shake of her head.

"I'm not Elizabeth Ann. I'm a good friend of hers and I've been helping her out a lot with her character in the play," Emily explained.

The man seemed to accept this with a small nod of his head.

"And may I ask what your name is?" he said.

"Everyone calls me Sky. So what did you want to ask Elizabeth Ann?" Emily replied.

"May I ask where she is? After all, tomorrow was supposed to be Opening Night," he said.

"Family emergency. She had to fly home to Japan this morning," Emily said.

Her watch alarm started beeping loudly, causing her eyes to fall downward. During this brief moment, as she turned off the alarm, she failed to notice the way the man's eyes widened for a moment.

"Where in Japan?" he inquired.

"Toyama. Do you know where that is?" she asked.

The man shook his head. He proceeded to ask questions about Elizabeth Ann's part in the play and the play, in general. Several people passed through the lobby but they ignored them in favor of continuing their conversation.

"What can you tell me about Elizabeth Ann? What are she and her family like?"

Emily shrugged.

"Elizabeth Ann's pretty nice. I met her when I came here in August. Her family sounds nice. She has an older brother and I think maybe a younger sister. Elizabeth Ann is a little older than me, is really sweet, and mixes speaking English and Japan when she's with a mixed group of friends that can understand either language."

The man made an hmm sound from the back of his throat. He held out his hand to shake hands with Emily.

"Thank you for speaking with me, Sky. I appreciate your time," he said before walking away.

Emily frowned before calling after him. "Hey!"

He turned around to face her with his hand on the door.

"You never told me your name."

He smirked.

"My name is…"

END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN

All Ronins: YEAH! The chapter is finally over! Now to GET. THAT. BLOCK! *they storm back into the kitchen*

Kento: *pops his head out* Don't forget to review!


	17. Chapter 16

**RoseJustice:** Guilty. Completely guilty. I love throwing in the little side stories to keep up the interest. I try to turn Kento into the playful, "cuddle bear" type that likes to pick on Emily like a sibling. They're making progress on the Block, but it's still taking up residence here.

**TheWhiteWanderer:** Alright, another review! You won't find out about the guy just yet. Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

**Ginga no Yousei:** He does, doesn't he? I'm only curious as to who he sounds like to you. Keep reading and reviewing.

**Author's Note: Enjoy the new chapter. I tried to write it in great detail, but keep in mind I don't know a whole lot about motorcycles and my English-to-Japanese translator doesn't give me the words anymore.**

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"_Please pull your seats into an upright position and buckle your seatbelts as we begin our descent._"

Emily clicked her seatbelt and rolled her shoulders before looking out the window. It was great to see the home country from the clouds. She had had so much to think about during the flight. Her thoughts strayed to recent events.

Elizabeth Ann had called Emily that evening of the day they had the meeting. It turned out her father had suffered a heart attack. Emily had promised to visit her during the Christmas break. In all the rush, she [Emily] had forgotten to mention the man that had been asking about her [Elizabeth Ann].

Actually, I can't even remember his name, Emily thought.

However, that was to be expected, considering what had happened that night. She had sort of had a nightmare. That night, she had relived her last time in the dynasty. It had played out exactly like a memory from the point when the warlords had brought her to the throne room to Ryo blasting that demon with a great sea of fire. There had only been one difference.

I didn't speak to Ryo through the armors link. I only curled into him like he drew the power from within himself, Emily said to herself.

Since it had played out as a memory, Emily had not felt the need to record it in her book of nightmares and night terrors. Emily blinked her eyes and looked around when she felt the person beside her shift. Apparently, during her daydreaming, the plane had landed.

She reached up to the overhead compartment for her carry-on backpack and slipped it on. She waited as many people passed her before a mother with a five year old let her out.

"Thanks."

Emily followed the crowd out of the plane, down the walkway and into the terminal. She looked around for a familiar face, but was unable to spot anyone. Truth be told, the young blonde had no idea who was picking her up. Normally, it would have been a member of her family or even Rowen, but no one had told her who was picking her up.

So imagine her surprise when she was scooped up in a hug by Ryo. She laughed as he twirled her around before placing her back on her feet.

"Hey, Pyro. What are you doing here?" she asked, smiling.

"I'm here to pick you up, Em," he told her.

Emily gave him a weird look. "Now how did you manage that?"

Ryo's grin gave away that he wasn't completely innocent.

"It's kind of a long story."

"I got time."

Ryo chuckled before bending down to pick up the two motorcycle helmets he had put down in order to hug her. He handed one to her and carried the other as they began walking.

"Well, originally, your father was supposed to pick you up. At least that's what your mother thought. But he had thought that your sister, Satsuki, was coming here. Satsuki couldn't come because she pulled an extra shift at work. So she asked your brother to come get you. Well, Sage forgot he had already promised to help Mia out at the University."

Emily covered a laugh with her hand. Something told her that wasn't the end of Ryo's story just yet.

"Sage called the house and left a message for Rowen to pick you up, but he had already left for the planetarium for that lecture on Pluto. So I decided to come get you."

Emily asked about Cye and Kento. He told her they had gone scuba diving as a late birthday trip for Cye. Because she sent a bag with clothes back with Sage and Rowen, the only thing Emily had brought with her was the backpack she was carrying. A lot of her extra necessities remained at the house in her room.

Emily hooked an arm through Ryo's arm and bumped against him playfully with a wink.

"You're a sneaky booger, Ryo. You got a new motorcycle, didn't you? Admit it," Emily smirked.

Ryo couldn't hide the grin on his face while nodding. He _had_ gotten a new motorcycle after saving up his money and having a few successful garage sales. The new motorcycle was much quicker and was the rich red color of Wildfire. Unknown to her family and friends, Emily had learned how to drive a motorcycle from Ryo.

Emily shrieked with excitement after they stepped outside and she spotted Ryo's new bike. She could only just imagine how well Ryo could handle it and was now very excited Ryo had picked her up. The two shared a loud, stinging high five before they both pulled on biker gloves.

Ryo climbed up on the bike and put down the passenger sides for Emily. They both pulled on their helmets, securely hooking the fastener below and Ryo dropped his visor down. Emily climbed up onto the bike behind the blue-eyed warrior, fastened the snaps of her backpack

together across her chest, and slapped her visor down.

Ryo started the engine and revved it up. Emily leaned forward to put her arms around Ryo in a familiar embrace. She reached her hand up to pat him on his jacket over his heart. It was a signal between them that she was ready.

Carefully, Ryo backed out of his parking space and took off out of the parking lot. Ryo decided to take Emily around the town before taking her home. He knew she would give him a crushing "hug" (with the special help of Hardrock) if he just took her straight home. Plus, he knew all the back roads with little to no residential that was perfect to show off the speed and easy maneuverability of the motorcycle.

Emily loved how sleek and swift Ryo moved the motorcycle down the roads. He was able to easily beat out lights when they started to turn yellow. A rush of adrenaline filled her upon them hitting the back roads. Both of them leaned forward, thus cutting their wind current and pushing the bike to move faster. The nicest part about having the daughter of a police officer riding with him, Ryo knew when and where all the officers were waiting for speeders.

After two hours of driving around town, Ryo pulled off to the side of the road and cut the engine. Emily hopped off the bike, removed her helmet, and let out a loud whoop.

"Woo! That bike is awesome. Best investment ever, Ry!" Emily cheered.

Not hearing a reply, Emily turned around to find him holding his keys out. She raised an eyebrow.

"Have you had that bike since I left?" Negative shake of the head. "Are you _sure_ about this?" Nod.

Emily didn't need to ask twice as she swapped her backpack for the keys. They switched places on the bike and Ryo secured her backpack against his back. Emily started the engine and tried driving the motorcycle up and down the road they were currently on. Then she returned to Ryo to add him on.

I can definitely feel the difference from this bike and his old one, Emily thought.

To start off, Ryo gently placed his hands to the side of Emily's arms, but didn't apply too much pressure. He did this as a starter precaution to help Emily maneuver the bike, if she needed it. When she first started out, Emily drove at a safe speed. As she became more confident, she started cutting the corners a little sharper and picking up speed.

After a short while, Ryo brought his hands down to rest on the sides of his jeans. He leaned against Emily's back but again didn't put too much weight against her. He smirked when he noticed what direction she was pointing the bike towards.

I knew she would probably do this when I handed her the keys, Ryo thought.

It didn't take long to reach their destination. In a very light trafficked area was a canalized river culvert which was popular for drag racing. During most of the year the river was a trickle and the culvert was almost completely dry. What made it the best time to go was a huge festival happening at the opposite end of town, thus meaning a majority of the law enforcement was there.

Before they got too close, Emily stuffed her jacket into her backpack and borrowed Ryo's jacket. By using Ryo's larger jacket, the top appeared baggy for her so as she approached the area no one knew she was female. She hid her long hair under the jacket so very little blonde hair stuck out from between the helmet and jacket. She had accompanied Ryo several times to the races, but this would be only the second time she would actually be racing.

The one other time she had been here for racing was before the crack of dawn with Ryo with an old motorcycle someone had abandoned. Ryo had fixed it up and had challenged her to a race. She had done well (especially considering she hadn't crashed!) yet the old bike had only managed to survive that one race.

Emily pulled up to the side of the finish line where a few passengers and onlookers were waiting for the next race to start. Ryo jumped off the bike and took off his helmet as he approached one of the race organizers. The young man had a long reception walkie in his hand and used it to communicate with the racers at the front.

"Your partner's just in time. I'll hold the racers until he gets down there."

Ryo motioned to Emily and she took off at a steady speed down towards the starting line. She pulled between two bikers that would have intimidated an inexperienced biker. Thankfully, Emily had been riding with Ryo since fourteen and driving since sixteen. A woman no older than Emily with the body of a model stood at the side with a flag. From underneath the helmet, Emily rolled her eyes.

Another reason she wanted to be here was her brother's reputation for racing with his Camaro. It was time for her to make her name in it. Her sisters were total "girly girls" with racing being the last thing they would ever be caught doing.

The other two bikers had their visors up and were heckling her. She made sure both were looking at her before making a slicing motion at the throat. That affectively shut them up. They closed their visors and revved up their engines. The racer organizer stood a few feet in front of them. He made gestures in front of him to clearly convey his message: _Race back down to the end. First one there wins._

He swiftly moved out of the way. The three of them revved up their engines, keeping a steady eye on the flag. The woman flashed them all a smile before dropping the flag. The three bikers all almost took off at the same time with Emily just a half-second behind her competitors.

From down at the finish, Ryo could see Emily not pushing the full speed of the motorcycle just yet. He could see her competition pushing their all speed which allowed them to get ahead of her.

Set the pace. Wait for your opening, Ryo said to himself.

Emily was only a few feet behind the other two. She saw them close the opening between them and slow their speeds, trying to push her back by slowing her speed. Suddenly, Emily shot up the high side of the culvert, gunning the gas in a swift jerk. When she was clearly past them, she moved down and out in front of them. Thinking she wouldn't have the time to get back down in front of them, the other two didn't speed up until she was already way ahead of them.

Emily passed the finish line four seconds ahead of them. Ryo was the loudest among the onlookers to cheer as the bikers slowed their roll while returning back to the finish line. The three put their kickstands up and cut the engines. The two competitors removed their helmets. One had short black hair and the Japanese symbol for honor tattooed on his neck. The other man had dark brown hair with forest green eyes.

As she demounted the bike, Emily realized she knew her competitors. The tattooed young man was a classmate by the name of Sho and the brunette, Yuu, had once helped out at the Date family dojo. Ryo ran over to pull his young protégé into a tight hug.

"We going to see face of our winner or what?" the man with the walkie asked.

Emily smirked as she unlatched the helmet and removed it. As she took the helmet down, she made her hair purposely come out, thus revealing her identity. The onlookers' jaws dropped open unceremoniously while Sho and Yuu slapped hands to their foreheads with wide eyes. Ryo laughed as he threw an arm around Emily's shoulders.

"Iah! I should have _known_!" Sho exclaimed.

The race organizer picked his jaw up and managed to stutter out "A girl?!" Yuu threw his head back while laughing before stepping forward to shake hands with Emily.

"_That_…is not fair. I should have known you had the racing genes in you," Yuu laughed.

"What? What are you talking about?" asked an onlooker.

Sho laughed, too, as he explained it to everyone else who obviously didn't recognize Emily.

"This is Emily, the younger sister of Sage Date," was all Sho had to say.

Gasps filled the air. Everyone knew Sage through the family dojo, his kendo skills, and his racing reputation. The starting line people called through on the walkie, snapping the stunned man out of his stupor.

"Sage Date. Yes, the sister of _THE _Sage Date," he called back to them.

Emily chuckled as she heard colorful words fill the air from the walkie.

It feels good to be home, she thought.

/…/

Sage groaned for the fifth time since arriving at his family's home. He had been berated since stepping through the door. Emily had arrived that morning on a flight from the States yet no one was quite sure who had picked her up. Apparently, his father was supposed to have picked her up. Rowen was the last along the line to supposedly go pick Emily up, but Sage couldn't reach him on his cell phone.

Sage thanked every god there was when he heard Rowen pull up in his car. It was a good thing Rowen had been invited to dinner with the family. He excused himself from his family to go outside to greet his best friend and sister. He received quite the surprise when Rowen climbed out of the car with no passenger. He shut the front door firmly behind him.

[Rowen, where's Emily?]

Rowen frowned as he walked up to his friend. While he hadn't been expecting communication through the armor mind link, it was the question that really threw Rowen off.

[What are you talking about?]

Between the two of them, Sage quickly found out what had happened. He had forgotten all about the planetarium lecture. Rowen had been talking about that for over a month!

[So if none of your family picked her up and _I_ didn't pick her up, who did and where are they?]

Their silent communication was interrupted by the roar of a motorcycle. They both turned their heads to see Ryo pull up on his new motorcycle with Emily. The blonde climbed off the motorcycle and removed her helmet. She gave Ryo a big hug and waved goodbye as he drove off to Mia's.

"Hey, guys!" she said cheerfully as she strolled up the driveway.

She greeted first her brother with a big hug then Rowen with a kiss on the cheek and hug. Then she wrapped an arm around Rowen's waist as she faced both.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Sage crossed his arms over his chest and gave her The Look. Only years of defending against this particular facial expression could prevent Emily from wincing or looking away.

"What did I do now?" Emily asked in a serious tone of voice.

"Not calling when you arrived, for one. And you should have been home around lunch, not dinner," Sage scolded her.

Emily raised a single eyebrow before narrowing her gaze.

"Perhaps you forgot the whole phone in the garbage disposal incident. So I _couldn't_ call. As for my arrival time…_**bite**__. __**me**__._"

Rowen's eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he turned his head to look at his fiancée. He was mildly surprised with Emily's attitude, but then he remembered how long of a flight she had been on. In addition, Emily was old enough to not need the big brother attitude hanging over her like a storm cloud.

As the two siblings started gesturing wildly at each other but without saying anything, Rowen realized they were used their sibling mind link. It still impressed him that the Halo armor had infused so strongly with Emily that she could communicate so strongly with her brother.

Soon the front door opened and Rowen nudged Emily, signaling to her to finish the sibling conversation. She automatically switched from silent to out loud.

"I'm glad you were concerned, Sage, but I'm all good. Ryo just helped me stretch my legs before coming home. Hi, Grandfather!"

Emily gave Rowen another squeeze before jogging up to her Grandfather. She slowed as she came up to him and gave him a gentle hug. He patted her on the head.

"Hello, my gyousei [morning star]. Seeing you again brings me great happiness," he murmured.

"How are you, Grandfather?" Emily asked quietly.

"I am well, my child. You needn't worry about me," Grandfather Date told her before leading her inside.

Once they were out of earshot, Sage snorted. Rowen raised an eyebrow at him as Sage walked up the path with him.

"It looked like you two were having quite the argument there," Rowen chuckled.

Sage groaned. "Our mother would have swatted her for the language she was using with me."

Rowen choked back a laugh as they entered the house. Life was going to be _real_ interesting for the next two weeks with Emily back in the country.

/…/

/Somewhere else/

"Are you sure?"

"Everything matches up."

"We'll wait until the time's right, then."

Nod.

"This time, we leave this one _dead_."

Raised eyebrows. "What if she's not the right one?"

Smirk.

"Who are we to care?"

END OF CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Kento: We, the characters in this story, would love to thank Tigergirl's younger brother aka Tasmanian Devil for hogging her TV and giving her the time to write this chapter.

Cye: *smiles* It was fun for T.G. to write this chapter. She had a blast with it, that's for sure!

Ryo: And I especially loved my starring role in it!

Rowen: *glares at Ryo* (mumbles) Should have been me to pick her up. Stupid Sage.

Sage: *ignores his best friend* We loved the reviews! Please leave more and continue to keep up with this lovely story. Thank you, one and all!


	18. Chapter 17

**RoseJustice: **Oh yeah! I do, too. I have made her into the typical tomboy (with long hair) and you'll see what Sage thinks about it. And the next episode is below.

**TheWhiteWanderer: **What, indeed? Let's see. Hehehehe

**Jerseygurl02:** It would have been expected that Sage or Rowen picked her up so I threw that little twist in to keep my readers drawn in. I have a few friends that drive motorcycles, but none of them drive Harley Davidsons. Ooh, I take that back! One does. "Shadow leeches?" Hmm, I like it. Hope you enjoy reading below!

**Vampire Ronin: (earlier chapters) **Wow! I must have been blinder than a deer in headlights to miss all of that. Sorry you're sore from the haunted house. Glad you liked the ronins in the intro. I try to mix them in every few chapters or so. **(Chapter 16)** OOPS. Must have enjoyed writing this a little too much. Here's the next chapter.

**Author's Note: I apologize for not posting sooner. I've been sick off and on with yesterday (Wed.) and this morning being the worst. Thankfully, it didn't hit me fully until after work.**

**Okay, readers. So I got a bit of a surprise that happened on Sunday, December 2. I was out golfing with my parents and I, Tigergirl, shot a lower score than my dad (mom still had the lowest score). The entire time I played, I used the same ball which was a ****Strata**** 1 (my first time playing with this particular ball). Now, yes, my dad had some crappy holes, but I couldn't contain the biggest smile on my face! I think the Ronin Warrior spirits were with me. Or at least a certain one. ;)**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

/Day 1 of Winter Break, 3 days until Christmas/

The next day, the jetlag had set in for Emily. She woke up late that the morning with her body feeling heavier than her brother's Camaro. She was just grateful none of her family had woken her up at the crack of dawn.

Yesterday had been amazing. After a wonderful day of riding and driving Ryo's new motorcycle, Emily had sat down for a wonderful dinner with her family and fiancé. It had been an official celebratory dinner in honor of Emily and Rowen's engagement. Granted, it was going to be a long engagement but it was still important to her family.

She had been prepared for the million dollar question last night when her mother had finally asked it. "Where's Cooper?" To be honest, Emily didn't know where her furry companion had gone off to. Shortly before leaving for the airport, Cooper had disappeared from the apartment and hadn't shown up anywhere, including the airport. So she came up with a total BS answer.

"He ended up eating a tiny piece of chocolate which apparently screwed up his system internally. The veterinarian wanted to keep him a few days and then Tom will bring him back to the apartment. Dr. Marselli told me Cooper should be fine, but he just wants to have all his bases covered."

Everyone had bought it hook, line and sinker. Well, okay, Rowen and Sage hadn't, but that's because they knew how weird…excuse me, _special_, Cooper was.

Emily yanked her shirt on over her head and wandered downstairs to find something to eat. She found a note attached to the fridge, letting her know where everyone was for the day. Her plans were already set in stone for the entire two weeks she was in her home country. She planned to stay one week at her home and spend the second week at Mia's house with the guys.

Today, she planned to visit Elizabeth Ann to see how she and her father were doing. Then, she was joining two of her high school teachers for lunch. Afterwards, she was going to go get her new cell phone and maybe do some window shopping.

She fixed herself some toast which she scarfed down without a second thought. The blonde threw on a light pullover, even though it was in the mid-thirties outside. Since Florida was only in the 50's, Japan's lower temperatures would allow her to further test her ronin power of Wildfire.

Stepping outside, Emily immediately felt a cold chill smack her hard. Shivering, she locked the door behind her. She stepped out into the middle of the front lawn and under the sun. She closed her eyes and bowed her head.

A multitude of thoughts filled her mind. The volcano from which Ryo drew his power from; a phoenix of fire engulfing the demon lord known as Talpa; Ryo encasing her in a tight but safe hug of intense heat.

She felt warmth spread down her legs and arms before settling over the rest of her body. She felt like she had a heat blanket on underneath her shirt. Emily was just glad she didn't seem to have burned herself. When she had first been testing the ability to warm up her freezing cold hands, she had pushed herself too had and burned half of one hand.

Emily jogged off away from the house to the station. Using her permanent bus pass, Emily hopped on the monorail bound towards the area Elizabeth Ann lived in.

/…/

Sage was sweeping the dojo floor when a familiar person walked in. His face lit up with recognition as he leaned the broom against the wall. He stepped forward to shake hands with him.

"Konnichiwa, Yuu. It's been a while. How have you been?" Sage asked.

Sage led him outside to the gardens so they could walk around and get caught up.

"I have been well, my friend. I've been out of the country for the past month. I just returned a week ago," Yuu answered.

"Really? Where have you been?" Sage asked further.

"Egypt, Scotland, and the States," Yuu told him.

Sage raised an eyebrow. He asked the other man what part of the States he had been in.

"I mostly traveled down the East coast. I flew in to New York, spent two days in West Virginia, and then a few days in Florida," Yuu said.

"Florida? You should have stopped by to see Emily while you were there. She already has plans for the two weeks she's here," Sage told him.

Yuu shook his head with a smile. "She was actually the reason I came by."

Sage stopped in mid-step. "Oh? What for?"

"I was hoping to ask her for a rematch. After all, it's not every day I lose a race to a woman." Yuu chuckled. "Let alone a woman of the Date family."

Sage snapped his head around to give Yuu his full attention. Yuu, seemingly concerned by the other man's confusion, quickly put two and two together.

"Emily didn't tell you what she and your buddy Ryo did yesterday…did she?" Yuu slowly asked, hesitating with every word.

Yuu froze under the famous Sage Date glare. His eyes had darkened with an intense light that spelled doom for their target. His eyes told him he better tell him what he meant or suffer the consequences.

"Emily…came with Ryo down to racers alley yesterday. No one knew it was her until after the race. She raced against me and a kid she knew from school. She wiped the floor with us! You have definitely taught her well," Yuu commented.

Sage cracked a smile. Oh, if only Yuu knew the truth. Sage _had_ taught Emily how to drive. He was not going to admit it out loud that he had _not_ been the person to teach her to race.

Ryo's going to need Wildfire to save him from my wrath, Sage thought as he smiled on the outside.

"Would you expect anything less from me?"

/…/

A maid led Emily out to the gardens and pointed her in the right direction. She thanked the woman before wandering out into the gardens. Elizabeth Ann's family owned a lot of land around their house with a big portion of it surrounded by cherry blossom trees and a large garden of flowers. Walking along a stone path, Emily came across Elizabeth Ann's father.

The man was an older gentleman with graying hair. He was knelt down in the ground with several gardening tools around him. He appeared to be planting a small flower in the ground.

"Back from the store so soon, Elizabeth Ann? It usually takes you much longer," the man spoke softly, catching a small glimpse of blonde hair.

Emily stifled a chuckle with her hand.

"Sumimasen [I'm sorry], Ichihara-san," she said, apologetically.

Putting his hands on his knees, the man paused in his work to give Emily a better look. He smiled gently upon realizing the young woman was not his daughter.

"You must be Emily. Forgive me for not properly greeting you. I'm Elizabeth Ann's father," he said, wiping off a hand on his jeans before reaching up to shake her hand.

Emily found this a little odd. Shaking hands was more traditional of other cultures, but then Emily remembered Elizabeth Ann telling her her father had grown up for most of his life in England.

She plopped down on the ground beside Mr. Ichihara who chuckled with a smile. She reached forward to help him plant the flower.

"My doctor asked me to take a leave of absence from work to rest. I've been spending a good deal of time out here. The cool air does the body and soul some good. I sent Elizabeth Ann to the store for some supplies. She should be back soon if you would like to wait," he told her.

"Arigato [thank you]. I actually asked her if I could visit you to see how you are doing. You see, my Grandfather's health has been failing for a little while now," Emily explained.

Mr. Ichihara nodded in understanding. "How is your Grandfather?"

Emily answered in the positive which made the gentleman pat her gently on her knee. By the time Elizabeth Ann showed up, the two had planted a dozen flowers and watered them. Elizabeth Ann giggled as the two stood up covered in dirt from waist down. She pulled the younger blonde into her arms with a surprisingly rough hug.

"It's good to see you again, Emily. I'm sorry they postponed the play, but I had to be here," Elizabeth Ann apologized upon letting her go.

"I understand. Really, I do. I would stay longer, but I promised a couple of my senseis I would join them for lunch," Emily said, apologizing in return.

"Do you have far to go?" Mr. Ichihara asked.

Emily shook her head. She explained that she was meeting her teachers at a nearby restaurant. Mr. Ichihara suggested Elizabeth Ann walk with her.

"Are you sure? I thought you needed me-,"

"-to go spend time with your friend. I'll see you in a little bit. Don't worry about me," Mr. Ichihara told her sternly.

Elizabeth Ann hugged her father and Emily shook his hand before the two left together. Elizabeth Ann was all bundled up with a hat, scarf, thick sweater, and pants.

"It is _freezing_ outside!" she exclaimed.

Emily chuckled. She had always preferred colder weather but at temperatures like this, it was only because of Wildfire that she herself could stand it.

"So what did Hunter decide to do about the play?" Elizabeth Ann questioned her.

"We're going to hold it the second week back in January. He figures it'll give us time to gather back together. The public didn't seem too pissed about the postponement," Emily answered.

"Good."

/…/

"We could go now. We know where she is and it would be easy to get her alone."

Snort.

"Are you doubting our abilities to capture a silly girl?"

Glare.

"She's among her family and friends right now. We need to wait until she's away from them."

Grumbling and cursing.

Chuckling.

"Leave her be for now. We were patient with the others. Let her enjoy her holiday…for now."

/…/

"Sensei Johansen!"

A woman in her early forties looked up with a smile as Emily walked up. She stood up and pulled the young blonde into a small hug.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me _Mrs._ Johansen?" asked the teacher.

Emily smiled. Old habits were hard to overcome. Mrs. Johansen had come to the school during her Senior year of high school. She had been on assignment from the United States to teach English at Emily's school for a year. Emily had gotten to know her through the club she was an advisor for and Emily a member of. Emily hadn't been surprised when the teacher had announced she was going to stay another year.

"I apologize, _Mrs._ Johansen. Where is Sensei Tanaka?" Emily asked.

"He'll be along shortly. He left some papers at the school and had to pick them up," Mrs. Johansen answered.

"Oh, okay. So how have you been?"

Emily had noted that the older woman was wearing a small brace over her right wrist. That had _not_ been there back in May when Emily had graduated.

"I've been wonderful! The students are doing wonderful this year and the Art Club is thriving," she said.

"What happened to your wrist?"

"Oh. That. Yes, well, did you hear about that nasty bus accident in Tokyo?"

Emily nodded. In June, a terrible accident had occurred on the outskirts of Tokyo. A bus had suddenly blown two tires on one side of the bus and the bus had flipped and rolled down a hill. It had severely injured many people, but, miraculously, no one had died. Her father had been one of the officers on scene after extra officers had been called in.

"I was on that bus." Emily gaped at her. "Thankfully, I was one of the lucky ones with only minimal injuries. I banged up my arm pretty badly, bruised some ribs, and had cuts everywhere. The person next to me on the bus shielded me from further harm."

"Did they ever figure out what happened to make the tires blow out?" Emily had forgotten to ask her father about it.

Mrs. Johansen took a sip of her drink before putting it down and shaking her head.

"No and it's so…odd, too. They looked over the remains of those tires and they say that something just suddenly blew them. What was odd was that whatever made them burst came from the side of the tire. It never actually touched the tire treads."

That was odd. Normally, something would puncture the tires or they were worn down to make them burst. Her teacher added that the tires had been fairly new, too.

"And the poor bus driver felt so horrible," added the teacher.

"Huh?!"

Mrs. Johansen proceeded to explain the other reason for the bus rolling. The driver had been going around a bend when he swore he saw a small child in the middle of the road. A chain reaction had occurred when he had applied the brakes. The driver hit the brakes at the same time the tires blew out, causing the bus to flip over the railing and roll down the small hill.

Afterwards, the bus driver had described the child, but no such child had been found. The child had supposedly been a young child of four or five with hair so light in color it seemed white.

Choosing to talk of better things, the two moved on to a different topic. Mrs. Johansen wanted to hear all about Emily's time in the States so she started telling her about everything. She was halfway through telling her about her crazy roommate when someone clapped their hands onto Emily's shoulders.

The young blonde would have shot up out of her seat if it hadn't been for the hand on top of her head and another hand resting on top of her hand on the table. Her eyes zeroed in on a deep jagged scar on the back of the hand on top of hers. She instantly calmed with a big sigh of relief.

"Sensei Tanaka," Emily said calmly.

The man chuckled before placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. Sensei Tanaka had been a good friend of the Date family for many years, having gone to school with Emily's mother.

"Hello, my dear. I apologize for my tardiness," he said, sitting down in a chair beside the other teacher.

"It's okay, Sensei. We were just catching up," Emily told him.

"Your father has been keeping me updated on how you are doing. I hear congratulations are in order." Mrs. Johansen shot her colleague a confused look. "Mr. Hashiba proposed."

Mrs. Johnansen's face lit up as she brought her hands to her mouth. She congratulated Emily and asked to see the ring. Emily removed her glove so the two teachers could take a closer look at her ring. She didn't tell them Rowen had made the ring.

The waitress appeared as if summoned and they all made their orders. She brought them their drinks and left to turn in their orders.

"Have you told her yet?" Sensei Tanaka asked Mrs. Johansen.

It was Emily's turn to be confused as a small smile broke out across the female teacher's face.

"I figured you would want to tell her yourself."

Emily's eyes shot back to the family friend.

"I've been appointed to the position of Principal[1] at Han'a'High," he explained.

Heads turned when they heard the loud scraping sound of chair legs and a THUMP. Sensei Tanaka nearly fell out of his seat when Emily congratulated him with a big hug. He patted the back of her head and thanked her for congratulating him.

"That's wonderful! You've been working there for so long. You really deserve it."

/…/

Emily smiled as she finished punching in the last number in her new phone. She loved her new phone. She had picked out a small touch screen phone with a slide out QWERTY keyboard hidden underneath. Thankfully, it was big enough to not fall down the garbage disposal. She didn't hold any more anger at Tom for the incident.

She looked up for a moment before looking down at her phone. She paused, and then slowly picked her head up to look across the street. She could have sworn she had seen someone standing across the road from her. Now she could only see a few people passing each other on the sidewalk.

Emily shook it off as nothing as her phone rang. The caller ID read as Rowen which she happily answered.

"Hey! What's going on?...Really? Okay. Tell Sage he can pick me up at the University in ten minutes."

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

[1] I don't know if schools in Japan have principals or headmaster or whatever. For the purpose of my story, we're going to call the "head person" Principal.

Kento: Do you think Tigergirl will have the Christmas chapter up before Christmas actually gets here?

Cye: Maybe. I'm just glad we got that…_ugly_ block out of here.

Ryo: *snorts* We only succeeded in getting it out of the house. It's still in the front yard.

Cye: *shrugs* Just means we have to be extra careful entering and exiting the house. Anyone who lets it follow them in will be sleeping outside until the new year. *walks out of the room*

Kento: *whispers to Ryo* You think he was serious?

Ryo: You didn't see what that thing did to the kitchen. Trust me. He means it.

Kento: *lets out a low whistle* Oookay. So please be sure to type in that little box below and submit your reviews.


	19. Chapter 18

Cye: Guys! Get downstairs!

Ryo, Sage, and Rowen: *run in from various places inside the house* *spot Cye pushing back the Block with his back with it trying to come in through the front door*

Ryo: Oh, crud! *rushes forward and holds the Block back*

Sage: *looks at Rowen* Think they can handle that?

Rowen: *frowns* No. *frowns even more* Better help before that…_thing_ comes any further in the house.

The Block: *pushes Ryo and Cye hard, almost toppling them both over*

Rowen and Sage: *jump forward and push it back*

Cye: Where the bloody Hell is Kento?!

Rowen: O_O

Sage: O_O

Ryo: O_O Cye, did you just…?

Cye: I don't care what I just said! WHERE IS HE?!

Kento: *walks into the room with a stack of letters in his hands* Hey, guys. We got some reviews in that we need to answer for Tigergirl.

Cye: Kento, get over here! This thing is trying to get back in the house!

The Block: *pushes hard at Cye* *Cye pushes back, forcing it back out the door a little*

Kento: *frowns* We _have_ to answer these.

Cye: *growls*

Kento: *growls back*

Sage, Ryo, Rowen and The Block: o_O

Cye: Fine! Hand 'em over!

Kento: *smiles and steps forward, holding the letters out*

Cye: *snatches the letters and hands one to each of the other ronins* Read them and answer quick!

Ryo: First review comes from **Vampire Ronin. We didn't know, either. Imagine our surprise (and delight). We wanna know what happens next, too. We (including T.G.) are never quite sure what will happen next. A bunch of ideas are bouncing around for the upcoming chapters. It can go any direction. **Okay, Ro. You're next.

Rowen: The next review comes from **RoseJustice. Oh. Talking about us? Yeah, we've been trying left and right to get this thing ***the Block pushes hard at Rowen* **out of here. Especially Cye. You see, he takes it personal that this thing took up residence in **_**his**_** kitchen. **Sage, hurry! I think it's actually starting to get in!

Sage: *rips open the letter* Okay! Last review is from **jrzgrl02. No, never. We LOVE reading your reviews! They're **_**long, detailed, **_**and **_**awesome!**_** Well, Tigergirl was thinking about what she does when she visits family and that's exactly what she does. Visit old high school pals and teachers. You knew someone was going to tell me about Emily racing with Ryo.** (Ryo: You know about that? _Oh, crap._) **Kento's iron rock crusher? Yeah, we've tried that. Didn't work. We managed to get it out of the house, but Cye has a personal vendetta against this thing. Tigergirl loves leaving those cliffhangers because it makes you, the readers and reviewers, all work on those prediction skills on what will happen next because (currently) only Tigergirl knows what happens next.**

Cye: Oh, thank the Ancient One! That's all the reviews, Ken. Now GET THIS THING OUT OF THE HOUSE!

Kento: *armors up* Stand back, guys!

Ryo, Sage, Rowen and Cye: *jump out of the way*

Kento: *takes his weapon, winds it up, and hits the Block like a golf ball*

The Block: *rips out of the doorway and goes flying off in the distance*

Cye: *leaps forward, slams the door shut, and locks it* *slides down against the door, breathing a sigh of relief* Please enjoy this new chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

/Day 2 of Winter Break, 2 days until Christmas/

_There was destruction everywhere. Clanging of weapons echoed in his ears as he stood in the center of what could only be described as a blood battlefield. The others were around him battling an enemy only they could see. Rowen launched an arrow before looking over his shoulder at him._

"_Go find Emily! We'll take care of the others!"_

_Sage shifted his head to see the rest of his family being ushered into the house by Mia. He unfroze as he called his armor away and ran from the battle. The family dojo was closer but the place was completely abandoned. Then he tried the University but there wasn't a soul in sight._

_Sage looked up at the sky as he raced down the road. The sky was pitch black with an unnatural darkness covering it. He just knew something wasn't right. All the sudden, he slid to a stop. He had started running towards his family's home, but then he realized something._

_/__**Whenever there was danger, Emily wouldn't go home. She'd go to her special place.**__/_

_He ran off in another direction, disappearing into the deep woods. There was an old abandoned house that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. They had found it together when they were kids. As he neared the house, he called for his sister._

"_Emily! Emily!"_

_He slid to a stop and froze when he heard his sister let out a bone-chilling scream. Sage dashed through the open front door, down the hall, and into the living room. He stopped in the doorway and stared in horror at the sight before him. _

_Emily was knelt down on her knees with her captor standing over her. Her captor stood back in the shadows where Sage couldn't see his face. He had a hand curled into her hair, forcing her head into an awkward tilt that allowed her a good view of her brother. His other hand held a small dagger dripping in fresh blood. Emily had a broken arm she was cradling in her lap, a face laden in bruises, and a split lip._

_The captor smirked at him while pulling Emily closer to him and forced her to rest her head against his knee._

"_S-Sage, stay back," Emily gasped, trying in vain to speak through the pain._

_Sage shifted his gaze from his sister to the masked captor._

"_Let her go."_

_The captor chuckled darkly. He released Emily's head but kept his hand on top of her head. Emily was obvious in too much pain to move her head from its current place. He petted her head like one would a dog. Sage knew his sister would have normally bitten that hand and punched the guy in the…not so pleasant place._

"_I knew you'd come for her. I can always count on the protectiveness of an older brother to come…to his __**baby sister's **__rescue."_

_Sage narrowed his gaze and took a step forward but froze when Emily's mysterious captor raised the dagger to her neck. His voice froze in his throat. He looked at Emily and saw something in her eyes that he never thought he'd see. Fear._

"_What's the matter, Halo? Not going to protect your darling sister," he taunted._

_Sage gritted his teeth as he tried to open his mind link to his sister. All he could feel was panic and worry. He couldn't get any response from his sister. She seemed to be in a frozen state of terror._

_He almost lunged at the other man when he forced Emily to her feet. Sage noticed there were several more cuts covering her body and rips in her clothes. Sage could see her right ankle was severely swollen when her jeans was torn at the bottom. Emily's captor stepped further back into the shadows so Sage couldn't see his face. He forced Emily to lean her back against his chest._

_There was a large crack of thunder outside and a flash of lightning. Emily's captor smirked._

"_Seems like our time is up."_

_Sage didn't have time to think or react when the man plunged the dagger into Emily's abdomen._

/…/

"Cale."

Sage's eyes snapped open. Never in his time as a ronin had he had a nightmare that had included his warlord rival. However, as he climbed out of bed, he realized that the shadowy figure had been that of the Warlord of Corruption (Darkness). He walked into his bathroom and splashed some water in his face.

He stood leaning on the sink with his hands gripping the counter. He stared into the mirror, trying to collect his thoughts.

/_My name is Sage Date. I am the only male of four. The dynasty was destroyed two years ago. Emily is my younger sister. Emily is safe and sound in her room._/

All the sudden, Sage stopped his train of thought to look down. Despite his inner calm, Sage's hands were badly shaking. He shook himself out of it before leaving his room. Clad only in pajama bottom pants, Sage left his room, walked down the hall, and entered Emily's room.

Emily was curled up facing away from the wall her bed was leaned up against. The covers had fallen down to her waist after having tossed and turned half the night. It gave him a sense of reassurance to see that Emily _was_ still here and not in any danger. He couldn't help but reach out and touch the spot on Emily's stomach where the dagger had pierced her skin.

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he felt no scarring of any kind under her shirt. The blonde bent down and placed a soft kiss on the top of Emily's head.

"I love you, little sister," he whispered.

Still fast asleep, Emily smiled and murmured, "You're the greatest, big brother."

Sage sighed as he backed away so he could perch on the windowsill. As much as he wanted to believe his sister's words, he felt that deep down he wasn't that great of a brother.

/_How can you still think so highly of me when I couldn't protect you from the dynasty? I should have known the danger you and the rest of the family would have been in with being so close._/

Sage dropped his head so his hair covered his face and hid the single tear that fell down his face.

/…/

Rowen adjusted the viewer as he looked through the telescope. Picking his head up slightly, the blue-haired ronin made a note on his notebook. He only had a little more work to do for the night. He had offered to help out the planetarium with their lesson plans for the class they were offering in the New Year for middle school students.

He could have used his armor to get an up close look at the constellations, but sometimes he liked doing the "normal" thing. Rowen groaned when he realized the lateness of the hour. He wasn't feeling tired, but the low blood sugar was starting to set in. Rowen finished up his work, grabbed up his notebook, and left for home. On his way out to the car Rowen stopped at the vending machine for a snack.

The snack was swallowed down in the blink of an eye. Rowen sighed as he drove down the road. If Cye found out that had been his "dinner," the man would have an absolute fit, especially since he had promised the other ronin he would eat a decent meal tonight.

It didn't take long for him to reach Mia's house. He parked his vehicle next to the jeep and cut the engine. He jogged up to the front step, but slowed himself down so he could quietly enter the house. There was a small lamp still turned on downstairs and upstairs. Whenever one of them was out late, someone would leave the two lights on so they wouldn't stumble through the house in the dark.

When he was walking along the backside of the couch, Rowen was greeted to a surprise. A normal sight would be to find Kento sprawled out on the ground with a game controller clutched in his hand. A normal sight would be to find Cye sleeping on the couch with a book lying open on his chest. This, however, was not a normal sight.

Ryo was lying half-on, half-off the couch and his camera equipment was spread out across the coffee table. The old blanket that was usually found hanging off the back off the couch was curled up in a ball on the floor. Rowen knew if his friend slept any longer in that position he would have to see the doctor in the morning for the horrible pain he would surely be in.

Rowen walked around the couch and lifted his friend so that he was lying fully on the couch. He picked up the discarded blanket and placed it over Ryo before murmuring a "Good night, bud." He turned off the downstairs light and jogged lightly up the stairs so his feet barely sounded on them. Rowen turned off the upstairs light and disappeared into his room.

After closing the bedroom door, he flicked the light on, momentarily blinding himself. Since Sage was planning to stay at his house for a week then bring Emily over to the house for her second week, he didn't have to worry about bothering Sage in the middle of the night.

Or morning, Rowen said to himself as he noticed the time was now 4:22AM.

Rowen lazily pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it across the room to land in the laundry basket. He walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve himself. Once done, he shut off the bedroom light and stumbled over to his bed. Rowen crawled under the covers, snuggled his face into his pillow, and promptly fell fast asleep.

/…/

Kento mumbled something under his breath as he scribbled down a few ideas. As a Christmas gift to his best friend, Kento had volunteered to cook Christmas dinner. He had forgotten how complicated the dinner was to make. He had so much to remember!

Cye refused to eat seafood of any kind (and Kento respected that). Rowen had a peanut allergy ("and we don't want a repeat episode of the Easter luncheon of 2004"). As for Ryo and Sage, they didn't have any known food allergies, but they could be darn right picky when it came to eating. Then Mia had requested he fix a traditional dish her family had fixed for every Christmas in the past.

Kento finished designing his game plan and decided a trip to the store was in order. First, he needed to check to see if anyone else needed anything. He wandered upstairs to find Ryo showing Mia some pictures he had finished developing earlier that morning.

"Do you two need anything from the store?" Kento asked.

"I'm good," Ryo replied.

Mia smiled. "Don't worry about it, Kento. I'll get it when I'm out later."

Kento frowned.

"Whatever it is, I can get it for you, Mia," he told her.

Mia's smile grew as she held back a giggle.

"No, _no._ **I** will get it later," she reassured him.

"I can get it no problem, Mia. Just tell me what you need."

"Feminine care products."

A bright red blush spread out across Kento's face while Ryo slapped a hand over his mouth to suppress his laughter and his face started turning apple red.

"Oh."

Mia nodded her head slowly like one would to a child. Kento stammered something out before excusing himself from the room. As he walked down the hallway, he heard Ryo's laughter erupting. Kento cracked a weak smile as he stepped into Rowen and Sage's room. It had been his own fault for asking.

Sage wasn't there but he hadn't been expecting to find him there anyway. All of them knew he'd be at his family's house so long as Emily was there. He stopped beside Rowen's bed where the older ronin was facing away from him.

"Hey Rowen," he whispered in a quiet tone.

The body shifted slightly but gave no other indication of wakefulness.

"I'm going to the store. Do you need anything?"

Rowen mumbled something unintelligibly. Kento nodded his head while he scribbled something down on his grocery list.

"What brand do we usually get?"

Rowen mumbled again and Kento wrote down another note.

"Thanks, Ro. You can go back to sleep."

A low groan was the only reply he got before he left and closed the bedroom door behind him. Kento jogged down the steps carefully while pressing number three on the speed dial for his cell phone. It only took a few seconds before his best friend answered.

"_Hello?_"

"Hey Cye! I'm going out to the store to buy stuff for the Christmas dinner. Do you need me to get ya anything?"

"Hmm. You might want to pick up some ground ginger and cinnamon while you're out. We're running low on both."

"Okay, man. I'll add it to the list. Say, when do you think you'll be back?"

Pause. "Probably not until late this evening. Better leave a light on for me, just in case."

"Okay. Have fun."

"Thanks. I will."

Kento pressed the End Call button on his cell and stowed it away in his jeans pocket. He snatched up the jeep keys that hung from a hook near the front door. Kento called upstairs to Mia and Ryo as he walked out the door.

"Mia, I'm taking the jeep!"

He heard her voice travel down to him just before he shut the door.

"No more dents, Kento!"

He chuckled. The last time one of the ronins had borrowed the jeep they had put a large dent in the back fender. The only problem was none of them would confess as the guilty party so now Mia required each of them to let her know when they were driving it.

He hopped into the jeep, started up the engine and pulled out of the driveway. In no time at all, he arrived at the grocery store. Kento grabbed a shopping cart and started wandering around for everything. He was only part way down the list when something slammed hard into his side. He glanced down to see a familiar mop of hair attached to a little boy who was now attached to him.

"Yuli! Hey, how are you doing?" Kento asked.

The little boy stepped back from where his head had been buried into the ronin's chest. Yuli had grown since the last time any of them had seen him. He now stood tall where the top of his head almost reached Kento's chin.

"I'm doing great, Kento! I'm here shopping with my mom," he answered.

"Well, that's cool, little man. I'm here to buy groceries for our Christmas dinner. Have you seen Emily yet? She came back in town the other day," Kento told him.

Yuli nodded his head.

"She's taking me to the park later," Yuli replied.

"Cool."

"Yuli!"

Yuli told Kento he would see him again soon before racing off to where his mother's voice had come from. Kento chuckled as he pushed the cart down the aisle. It was a happy and sad Christmas this year. None of them could get away to visit their families this year, which meant Kento wouldn't be able to see his sisters and brothers.

That's why me and the others are eating up the fact that Emily will stay with us for a week, Kento thought with a smile.

All of them had made plans to spend time with Emily while she was visiting. Due to her history with them, Emily was viewed as a little sister to all of them. This, of course, made things a lot harder for anyone outside their circle to date her. Even Rowen who was _in_ the circle had trouble with them.

/_Of course, it's Sage that he should be the most worried about._/

/…/

Phhhhew! A killer whale broke the water surface, sending up a high spout of water from its blowhole. The orca descended into the water, its dorsal fin slowly coming out and back into the water. A familiar figure swam beside the powerful mammal without a care in the world.

The orca performed a barrel roll before surfacing again. When it came back down into the water, the figure beside him was revealed as Cye. He felt so carefree swimming beside the creatures of the water. He gently gabbed onto the dorsal fin with his arms and the orca sped away, taking him for a small joy ride.

He let go before the orca sped up to the surface and did a side jump out of the water. He watched from below in fascination as the orca popped in and out of the water. When the whale returned to the water, it let out a long, high pitched whistle as it swam back to the water warrior. He smiled as he swam slightly above the whale and pressed a small kiss to its nose.

With the ability to breathe underwater, Cye whistled back to the orca before the orca swam away. Cye swam down to the bottom where he found a few sharks teeth and shells. He swam up to the surface and back over to the beach where his things were. He placed the items gently in his bag with a smile before standing up and closing his eyes. He basked in the warm sun for a few moments before diving back into the water.

He heard a clicking sound echo towards him and he turned his head to see a small pod of

dolphins swimming towards him. The four dolphins swam in circles around with the smallest, a young calf, playfully prodding him in the stomach. Cye allowed the calf to gently push him around as his family raced around them. The auburn haired teen reached his hand out to touch the calf on the head. The calf made a clicking sound at him before swimming off with his family right behind him.

Cye shook his head as he returned to the sea floor. He studied the water life quietly as it moved around him as if he were a part of the sea, too. He felt at peace with the Torrent armor whenever he was near or in the water. Last summer, he and Kento had camped out on several different beaches. Cye had enjoyed scuba diving while Kento had worked out on the beach and surfed.

After a few more hours of communing with nature, Cye returned to the beach to gather up his things. He grabbed up his towel to dry himself before putting on a t-shirt and pulling up his jeans to cover over his suit. He hung his backpack over one shoulder before heading up the beach. He ran a mental list through his head.

/_I got the new biker gloves for Ryo and, for Rowen, the new science book he's been eyeing for a while. I made Emily that scarf that she's going to love!_/

Cye came to a screeching halt when he came to a sudden realization.

"I forgot to pick up Sage's gift," he gasped.

And tomorrow was Christmas Eve! With that dreading thought in mind, Cye took off like a shot towards Mia's house, hoping to the gods Rowen (and his car) were still home.

/…/

"Here! Try this."

Emily accepted the snack from Elizabeth Ann and held it gently in her hands as she took a bite. The snack had looked crunchy yet she was able to bite into it easily. The snack was sweet with a mixture of tastes in it. She finished it with only four bites. She wiped off her mouth and tossed the napkin away into a nearby trash can.

"That was pretty good," Emily said, walking slightly behind Elizabeth Ann.

The two of them were out late at the street market with Elizabeth Ann buying some last minute Christmas gifts. The sun had already descended over the horizon, but the sky wasn't pitch black yet. It was a purple-blue mix of twilight.

"I'm glad we could spend more time together. We don't spend nearly enough time together at Pineview," Elizabeth Ann told her.

Emily smiled and patted her friend on the arm. Looking down, she noticed her shoelaces had become untied.

"Wait a minute, Elizabeth Ann."

Emily knelt down to tie her shoelaces. Elizabeth Ann stopped a couple of feet from her and waited. While waiting patiently, the older blonde glanced around at all the people. Her gaze scanned by a group of people then her head snapped back to the place she had just been looking. She focused her gaze on the faces of the people there and took a step forward.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand touched her shoulder. Emily frowned at her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"I'm sorry. I thought I saw someone looking at me," Elizabeth Ann apologized.

Emily turned her head to look at where her friend's gaze had been. There were many people there, but none of them were even looking in their direction. She shrugged.

"Probably just a tourist," she murmured.

Elizabeth Ann slowly nodded before agreeing with her friend. It had shaken her up a little bit. However, she felt safe with so many people around and Emily by her side.

/…/

"She almost saw you. You were out in broad daylight!"

"Technically, it was night out."

A glare and growl.

"You are going to ruin our plans. You _will_ wait until she's away from her family."

A burning glare. Intense gaze is returned.

"You can have all the fun you want, but leave her be for now."

Smirk.

"Fine. I'll back off. But I get first crack at our…_little friend_."

"Deal."

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long, people. Tomorrow is the last day of work for me until after the New Year (and thank the Ancient spirits for that!). Work has been piling over and this chapter took me a little while to write because of how I wanted to organize it. Hope you all enjoy and I hope to have the next two chapters actually up for Christmas (but we'll have to see how long it actually takes me). –Smiles- **** Enjoy.**

**P.S. I hope you liked the moment between Kento and Mia. My dad's always asking me if I need him to get something from the store while he was out. I've never had to ask him for that particular item, but I thought about how awkward it is for the guy.**


	20. Chapter 19

**Vampire Ronin:** I should know by now that I don't catch some of my errors when I rush throwing up a new chapter. OOPS. The action will kick in…eventually. Hehehe This is turning out to be my longest story ever. A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, too!

**collegegal: **Been there, done that, have the college diploma as a reminder. Thank you, thank you! You have to love those awkward awkward moments between guys and gals. I figured most of the ronins have spent a lot of time with Rowen so they understand him in his sleepy state. I'm sure you _do_ have your theories about the guys in the shadows and who they're targeting. I plan to blow everyone's theories out of the water when the truth is revealed. Here's the new chapter! Hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy this time off from college.

**jrzgrl02: **Thank you very much! I love getting compliments. I figured big brother has to show he's "human" from time to time. Kento felt so awkward at the store he decided not to Mia's "supplies." The "shadow leech" has at least one friend, but that's all I'm saying. Going after Elizabeth Ann? Hmm, I didn't say she was the target yet. He he That Writer's Block has a real nasty attitude. They are getting a tad claustrophobic, but they're doing okay. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

**TheWhiteWanderer: **Hehehe Poor men. One of many awkward moments. Great review, too! A wonderful holiday to you and a very Happy New Year!

**Author's Note: Well, I succeeded in getting up the Christmas Eve chapter for the actual Christmas Eve. My apologies but my Christmas day chapter will not be up for Christmas day. I haven't even had the chance to start it yet, but it should be up in a few days at least. Enjoy the latest chapter for "Trouble Follows Little Sister."**

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER NINETEEN

/Day 3 of Winter Break, Christmas Eve/

"How could you wait until _Christmas Eve_ to buy something for her?"

Kento smiled guiltily at Ryo and Cye who frowned at him. He had dragged them both out of their beds at the crack of dawn and thrown them into the jeep. It was only eight in the morning and they had already been to four different stores. Ryo was sitting down on a bench with his head leaned back while Cye leaned on a lamppost. Kento was looking over a list of different stores.

"Well, what did you two get her?" Kento murmured, looking up.

Cye smiled sleepily. "I made her a scarf. I finished it a few weeks ago."

Kento and Cye became suspicious when all Ryo did was grin and emit a small chuckle. He told them he had no intentions of telling anyone what he got Emily.

"Ah, come on, man! I need help. Emily's the hardest person to buy for!" Kento whined.

Ryo smirked as he lifted his head and stood up.

"That's where you're wrong, Ken. _Sage_ is the hardest one to buy for. I just got his gift the other day and that's only _after_ I consulted with Emily, Satsuki _and_ Yayoi," Ryo pointed out.

"Ah."

The three let out a collective sigh before moving on. They spent hours going from store to store, only stopping once for a late yet short lunch. Finally, Kento dropped Cye back off at Mia's after he was trampled by a group of holiday shoppers. Ryo had tried to jump out of the car but Kento had slammed the door shut and shot off like a rocket before he could.

While inside a busy Yankee Candle store[1], Ryo managed to sneak away without Kento even spotting him. He didn't realize the other man had left until he had spent an hour looking all over the store for him when he was ready to check out.

"He _ditched_ me," Kento mumbled glumly.

He left the store with a new candle for Emily, but he felt like he should still get her something else. After placing the bag in the jeep, he wandered into the small, two-story bookstore next door. Kento started in the sports section where he flipped through some books for himself. Not finding anything of much interest, he moved about the store looking Emily's areas of interest.

On the ground floor, there were areas Emily had some interest in, but he couldn't find anything he would really enjoy giving her. So he walked upstairs and down long rows of book shelves. He was walking around a corner when he spotted a book sticking out on a shelf above eye level. Kento carefully pulled the book out and flipped it open.

His mouth turned up in a small smile as he perused the book. He gently closed it and smiled down at it in awe.

"It's perfect," he whispered.

Holding it securely in his arms, Kento walked downstairs and over to the front counter. Behind the counter stood an elderly woman who wore a beautiful, Christmas themed dress. She smiled at Kento as he handed the book to her.

"This is the perfect gift," Kento proclaimed.

The woman smiled and asked if he would like the book gift wrapped. Kento perked up at the sound of that and answered in the affirmative. As she pulled out all the necessary materials, Kento began rambling.

"One of my best buddies has a younger sister who's awesome! I wanted to buy her something real special and I know she will _love_ this. You have a wonderful place here," Kento said.

"Thank you, young man. I'm happy to hear you enjoy my little shop so much. Let me ring this up to you."

The elderly woman rang up the purchase on the computer, but only after typing something on the keyboard. Unknown to Kento, the original price on the book had been $69.99, but the owner had marked it down to only $15.99. Kento handed over his money and thanked the woman profusely while heading out the door.

/…/

"Where are we going?" Rowen asked.

Emily was standing in front of him wrapping a scarf around his neck while Sage was searching their shared room for his hat.

"You and the others are joining us for a Date family Christmas tradition," Sage answered, bending down to look under his bed.

Emily finished tying the scarf and reached up to lightly kiss Rowen. Noticing his best friend's inattention, the sneaky ronin grabbed his fiancée by the elbows and pulled her in for a full kiss. Emily made a small sound of surprise which alerted Sage who was halfway under his bed.

Please tell me he's not, Sage thought.

He partially and awkwardly bent his body to the side so he could look out from under the bed. Sure enough, his best friend was in a lip-lock with his baby sister. Sage had to calmly remind himself they _were_ engaged and Sage had known Rowen all his life.

/_Okay. That kiss is lasting __**too**__ long for my tastes._/

Sage drew himself out from under his bed and stood up. He cleared his throat loudly, causing the two to break apart. Rowen blushed red from getting caught but Emily just smirked at her brother.

"Problem, Sage?" she teased.

"Have you seen my hat?" he asked with a hint in his tone.

Rowen's eyes bugged out when Emily pulled Sage's winter hat out of the pouch of her pullover. He raised an eyebrow at her as she waggled her eyebrows at him. Sage stepped forward to snatch it from her while tapping her on the nose with his finger.

"You're not old enough _yet_ to be pulling that type of trick on me," Sage scolded.

Emily chuckled as she looped an arm through Rowen's.

"Get used to it, big brother, because Rowen is all mine in four years," she chuckled, hugging his arm tightly.

By now Rowen's face had become a deep raspberry red and his head lowered so his face couldn't be seen. If either blonde had made him look up, he would have burst like a balloon. He had forgotten how funny the duo was together.

After ensuring they had everything, the trio left in Sage's Camaro with the guys up front and Emily in back. When asked how she had gotten the short end of the stick, they looked back at her with a raised eyebrow each. She held her open arms out with an expression that plainly said "What?!"

"You pulled a sneaky trick on me. _You_ get to sit in back," Sage told her, catching her gaze using the rearview mirror.

Sage was once again graced with his sister's knowing smirk. He almost rear ended the car in front of him when he saw her mouth 'Well worth it' back at him. Emily left her brother alone for the rest of the ride as they drove across town towards their destination.

/…/

/Florida, United States; 6:05am; Christmas Eve/

Things were completely quiet at the Connelly House. Tom was fast asleep in the bedroom he shared with his younger brother. The college freshmen would be coming home later that afternoon to join his family. Tom was in a deep sleep when an unseen force shook his bed. The college junior woke up slowly and reached over to turn off his vibrating alarm clock[2].

Letting out a big yawn, Tom sat up in bed and rubbed at his sleepy eyes with the palms of his hands. He stood up and stumbled over to the family bathroom. He relieved himself, washed his hands, and took his hearing aid out of its case. He checked the battery to make sure it was still good before snapping the hearing aid door shut and placing it on his ear.

The hearing aid started squealing while it was in his ear so he pressed on the ear mold to make it squeeze properly into place. He returned to his bedroom where he slipped into a pair of workout pants. Bending down, Tom pulled on his socks and running shoes. On his way out the door, the tall man grabbed up his pedometer and reset it.

While it _was_ a little cool out (only 65°), Tom enjoyed feeling that breeze against his bare chest during his runs. He stretched for five minutes in his family's front yard before taking off in a light jog. He moved at a steady pace down the street towards the nearby park which led to several jogging paths. For today, he chose to run down one of the most vigorous jogging paths.

As he entered the park, Tom was being watched by a familiar large white form. Cooper stood barely visible from within a large bush in the entrance of the park. He dashed from the bush in an inhuman speed. His companion's friend and roommate was keeping secrets from her (and, consequently, _him_).

Moving faster than the eye could see, Cooper appeared ahead of Tom on the path. He waited for the man to appear over the hill and crouched low. He was going to find out why Tom was acting so weird. Just as the man came over the hill, Cooper spotted a flash of movement rapidly approaching Tom from the side.

Cooper moved swiftly back through the bushes. Just as the other man drew a blade to attack Tom, Cooper leapt up into the air and threw the man to the ground upon their bodies impacting. The man landed hard and tumble rolled across the grass. Tom was unaware of their presence as he zipped past the large bushes that hid them from sight.

The man scrambled to his feet with the blade still drawn. Cooper crouched low, growling with his teeth bared. The man lunged forward while slicing the blade across the air in front of him. Cooper dashed to his side then dove at the man. The man cried out as Cooper sliced his arm with his nails and nicked him on the cheek with his canines.

The man fell back down onto the ground with his blade flying away from him. The man looked up and stared in horror as the dog's eyes glowed a pure dark golden color.

"_Demon dog_," he gasped.

The stranger stumbled to his feet and ran away, completely forgetting the knife behind. Cooper let out a small huff before looking back up the path where Tom had long since disappeared by now. It would take no problem to catch the jogging human, but Cooper decided that he better not displease his human companion, after all.

The large canine would just have to stick close to Tom, especially while he was around Emily. It put him at ill ease to know he wasn't immediately doing everything he could to protect his companion. However, in the two and a half years he had known Emily, Cooper had come to trust her judgment. For now, time would only tell if her judgment was sound and her opinion of Tom accurate.

/…/

Cye sat down at the piano and lifted the covering over the keys. He played a few notes before accepting the piano book Sage's mom handed him. Beside him sat Kento who, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), had developed a slight sore throat. Sage's family had told him he didn't have to sing, but they did want him there with them. Cye had been the one to suggest he act as Cye's page turner for the piano.

Directly behind them stood Ryo, Rowen and Sage who were sharing a songbook. Behind them diagonally stood Sage's parents with a guitar (dad) and flute (mom) in hand. Standing diagonally to the left of his parents were Sage's three sisters with Emily standing slightly off to the side. The three of them were also sharing a songbook. The only two absent were Mia and Sage's Grandfather. Their Grandfather had started feeling a little weak so Mia had offered to stay with him.

The group was standing in a large room that served as a cafeteria and entertainment hall. The group stood on a small wooden platform. Sitting scattered around the room were an odd assortment of elderly people with various nursing home staff members mixed in.

Kento turned the piano book to the first song and Cye played a few introductory notes as Sage's parents joined him for the musical accompaniment. When the first few words were sung, Emily brought her hands up and started interpreting the song [3].

_City sidewalks, busy sidewalks_

_Dressed in holiday style_

_In the air, There's a feeling of Christmas_

_Children laughing, People passing_

_Meeting smile after smile_

_And on ev'ry street corner you'll hear_

(Everyone joined the girls in on singing.)

_Silver bells, silver bells_

_It's Christmas time in the city_

_Ring-a-ling, hear them sing_

_Soon it will be Christmas day_

_Strings of street lights_

_Blink a bright red and green_

_As the shoppers rush_

_Home with their treasures._

_Hear the snow crunch_

_See the kids bunch_

_This is Santa's big scene_

_And above all this bustle_

_You'll hear._

_Silver bells, silver bells_

_It's Christmas time in the city_

_Ring-a-ling, hear them sing_

_Soon it will be Christmas day._

The audience politely clapped and one of the staff let out an appreciative whistle. The group proceeded to sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Silent Night, and Feliz Navidad. Satsuki stepped forward with a separate songbook and began to sing softly.

_The first Noel, the angel did say,_

_Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;_

_In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,_

_On a cold winter's night that was so deep._

_Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,_

_Born is the King of Israel._

_They looked up and saw a star_

_Shining in the East, beyond them far;_

_And to the earth it gave great light,_

_And so it continued both day and night._

_Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,_

_Born is the King of Israel._

_And by the light of that same star,_

_Three wise men came from country far;_

_To seek for a King was their intent,_

_And to follow the star wherever it went._

_Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,_

_Born is the King of Israel._

Rowen smiled as he listened quietly. He was pleased to witness how musically talented the Date family was. They could easily bring joy to everyone in a room just by singing or playing an instrument. Satsuki finished singing and the group applauded her. Each singer stepped forward and either sang a Christmas solo by themselves or solo with the rest accompanying on chorus.

The last one to sing a solo was Emily. A staff member fluent in sign language stepped in for her as she stepped forward. The rest of the group sat down while Cye remained at the piano with Kento beside him. He had never played this song before, but he was skilled at playing a song cold turkey.

_The moon is right  
The spirits up  
We're here tonight  
And that's enough_

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime  
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The party's on  
The feelin's here  
That only comes  
This time of year

Everyone was captivated by Emily's strong, beautiful voice.

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_The choir of children sing their song_

_Ding dong, ding dong,_

_Ding dong, ding Ohhhh_

_Ohhhhhhh_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_The word is out_

_About the town_

_To lift a glass_

_Ahhh don't look down_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_The choir of children sing their song_

_They practiced all year long_

_Ding dong, ding dong_

_Ding dong, ding dong_

_Ding dong, ding dong_

_The party's on_

_The spirits up_

_We're here tonight_

_And that's enough_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_The moon is right_

_The spirits up_

_We're here tonight_

_And that's enough_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

_Simply having a wonderful Christmastime_

The applause was light but polite. The group stood as a whole and bowed. Then they joined the nursing home residents in having a nice Christmas Eve dinner. It was certainly a memorable moment for the ronins.

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN

[1] – I don't know if there are any Yankee Candle stores in Japan, but I like them so they're in my story.

[2] – This is a useful item used by some D/deaf people. It feels really weird because it shakes the entire bed since some D/deaf people can't hear a regular alarm.

[3] – Japanese sign language, like most other sign languages, differs greatly from American Sign Language (ASL). ASL originates from French Sign Language (FSL). For the purpose of this story, we're going to say that the people in the nursing home who require signing know ASL and JSL.

**Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Holidays, etc! And a VERY Happy New Year! May your holidays be nice and full of snow or sunshine. Don't forget to leave a review.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Vampire Ronin: **Oh, fudge! It's like college days all over again. I can go over what I write like four times, but the minute I print it and look over it again I catch the error(s). The only difference now is I publish the chapters instead of printing and handing 'em in to the professors. Yes, it was a very sneaky Ryo and you'll find out about Kento's gift below. As for Cye, you inspired me to insert in this chapter the answer to your question. Thank you, thank you! I'm lovin' this story!

**Author's Note: Another wonderful chapter from the beautiful and creative mind that is Tigergirl (Don't you love my modesty?). Lol Enjoy reading. **

CHAPTER TWENTY

/Day 4 of Christmas Break, Christmas Day/

Satsuki and Yayoi snuck quietly down the hall to Emily's room. They opened the door and tiptoed inside. Emily was still fast asleep with her blanket pushed halfway down and her pillow hugged tightly. The two older sisters looked at each other, counted to three, and then jumped onto their sister's bed.

Emily shot up into a sitting position, fully awake and confused.

"Merry Christmas, Emily," they chorused in a quiet voice.

Emily stared at them a moment before understanding slowly dawned on her. She smiled wide as her sisters moved off the bed so she could stand up. Still clad in their pajamas, the three sisters crept down the hall to Sage's room where they roused their brother from his slumber. The four walked downstairs together with Satsuki and Yayoi in front and Sage and Emily in back.

The four wandered out into the living room where they found their Christmas tree lit up with a large assortment of wrapped gifts under it. The two older girls giggled like schoolgirls as they snatched up their stockings. Emily picked up Sage and hers stockings, handing her brother his as she sat down beside him.

The four siblings pulled out the contents of their stockings. The contents were small items such as lip gloss (for the girls), gloves, a yo-yo (Emily) and vegetables/fruits. Each sibling pulled out a round piece of food. They each looked at each other before tossing their items around.

Emily threw her apple to Satsuki who threw her orange to Sage who threw his peach to Yayoi who threw her tangerine to Emily. Satsuki laughed as she rolled her peach around in her hands.

"After so many years, you would think _Santa_ would know by now what each one of us likes," she said.

The other three smiled and nodded their heads in agreement. It _never_ failed. Every Christmas, the quartet would find the wrong piece of food in their stockings and they would wind up swapping before the older adults were awake. Speaking of the adults, it was a Christmas family tradition for them to wait until everyone was up, dressed, and drinking something hot before presents could be distributed and opened.

The four wandered back upstairs to their respective rooms to change into their clothes for the day. Emily changed into a white t-shirt and khaki pants. Her t-shirt had dark winter blue snowflakes across her chest in a row of three. Her khaki pants were a little dark in color and she wore a brown belt to compliment her pants. She wore a matching dark blue scarf around her neck that wrapped around her neck once to even out the ends lying on either side of her body.

Emily met her brother in the hallway and looped her arm through his again.

"We're spending the afternoon and evening at Mia's, right?" Emily asked.

Sage nodded silently as they walked downstairs. Sage reminded Emily that Rowen would be joining them around nine-thirty to spend part of Christmas Day with the family. They were both extremely happy when they found their parents and Grandfather awake and sipping drinks. Once Satsuki and Yayoi came downstairs, the family gathered in the living room near the tree to open presents.

"Whose turn is it to play Santa this year?" Mrs. Date asked.

Everyone minus her pointed to Satsuki. The young woman clapped her hands happily as she knelt down beside the tree. Each of the four siblings had a different way of playing "Santa." Satsuki would go from the left side to the right side of the tree while Yayoi would go from right to left. Sage started from the middle then went to the left before returning to the middle and going right. Emily swept from side to side, handing out all the gifts from top to bottom.

Satsuki picked up a small, neatly wrapped gift. "This one's for Dad from Yayoi."

Mr. Date leaned forward on the couch to take the gift from her before she turned back around to pick up another gift. Mr. Date got a brand new travel coffee mug from Yayoi which he thanked her since his last one had been lost. The gifts under the tree quickly disappeared as members of the family unwrapped them.

Emily frowned. Her Grandfather had given everyone a gift except her. From his standing spot behind the couch, he motioned for her to follow him outside. Without the others noticing, Emily slipped outside after him, but quickly jumped back inside to retrieve a jacket. Emily's Grandfather held out his arm for Emily to loop her arm through. They walked out into the Zen garden Emily's mother had put together earlier that year.

"What can you tell me of a card deck, my gyousei [morning star]?" Grandfather Date asked.

Emily thought this question strange, but answered anyway.

"A standard card deck consists of 52 cards. The cards are represented by spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The cards range from two to ten, then the face cards and Aces. Some decks are theme-based while others are more traditional," Emily explained.

Grandfather Date chuckled as he patted Emily on the arm and they stopped in the middle of the garden. He produced a small wrapped gift from his inner jacket pocket and handed it to her. Emily let go of his arm so she could gently unwrap the gift. She was pleasantly surprised to find not a full card deck, but a single card in a sealed card holder.

"Every card has its place in the deck. Even the Joker I've given you," he said, cryptically.

Emily stared at him puzzled. What possible place did a Joker card have in a deck? She wasn't aware of any card games that used it. This particular card wasn't even a part of the 52 cards that made up a standard deck.

"While it has no place in any card game, the Joker still holds its place in a card _deck_. Without it, the deck is not complete. Also, if not shuffled out before a game begins; the Joker can be the one card to upset even the most strategic planning. It is the most unique card in a deck _because_ it belongs to none of the four suits," he told her.

Emily smiled as she now admired the card. She felt like her Grandfather was referring to her when he talked about the card's uniqueness. His small sly smile gave her even further confirmation.

"Keep it in a special place, child," Grandfather Date told his youngest granddaughter.

The young blonde woman playfully glared at the elderly man.

"Ojiisan, I have been eighteen since early October. I'm not a child anymore," she nagged him.

He clucked his tongue at her with the waggle of a finger.

"You will always be a child in my eyes, my gyousei."

The sound of a car pulling up out front alerted them to the arrival of Rowen. They walked back inside to greet him with the rest of the family.

/…/

/_Earlier that day_/

Ryo walked into the kitchen just as Cye was pulling out a casserole. He frowned as he grabbed up an apple and hopped up to sit on a kitchen counter.

"Merry Christmas, Cye. I thought Kento was fixing dinner later," Ryo said, before biting into his apple.

Cye smiled sheepishly which piqued Ryo's interest. He had his jacket and shoes on, meaning he was planning to go somewhere with that casserole.

"This isn't for us," Cye confessed as he headed for the door.

Ryo slid off the counter and tossed the apple core away.

"So who's the casserole for?" Ryo asked.

Cye stopped at the door and let out an inaudible sigh. He placed the casserole down on the counter near the kitchen door and turned back around. He smiled weakly.

"You remember how you and Kento found me trampled yesterday while we were shopping?" Slow nod. "I offered to bake a casserole for Christmas for this Grandmother if her grandchildren ran me over."

Ryo barked out a laugh. He didn't have to worry about Kento hearing them since the man had been going into the shower as he passed his and Cye's room to come downstairs.

"_I knew it._ You sly _fish_! You may play the innocent act with all of us, but I **knew **it!" Ryo grinned.

Cye shrugged with a chuckle of his own. "I had to do it, Ryo. Ken would have had us out _all_ day."

Ryo looked over his shoulder, checking to make sure none of the other residents were around.

"Next year, you and I are going to tag team him. This year, it was us. Next year, it's Rowen and Sage," he murmured.

An uncharacteristic smirk graced Cye's face as he gave his friend a nod of agreement. They shook on it with equal grins on their faces.

"I'm thinking this time next year would be a good time to go camping. I'll be back in twenty minutes. Merry Christmas, Ryo," Cye said before slipping out the door with the casserole.

/…/

/_Later that day_/

"Wow! Thanks, Cye. Thanks, Kento. You two rule."

Kento beamed and Cye chuckled as Ryo admired his new motorcycle helmet. The guys had decided to come together on Ryo's gifts this year. Cye and Kento had gotten him a new helmet while Sage had bought him new gloves and Rowen tools to help him better care for his bike. Emily had been the "odd man out" who had given him a framed drawing of him and his motorcycle drawn completely from memory.

In fact, it turned out Emily had given all the guys and Mia drawings of themselves doing activities they loved. The drawings were all a small size of 11" by 14". For being a "tomboy," Emily was very skilled in the Arts. Speaking of the little artist, she had received a few special gifts, too.

Rowen had given her a new bow and one of his own armor arrows. "Don't go using that arrow for practice. It will smash clean through any target." Cye gave her a new paint set with fresh brushes and a hat he had personally made. Sage's gift had been a special can of pepper spray which had caused them all to chuckle.

Emily was unwrapping Ryo's gift while the others were chatting about this and that. Kento had stepped into the kitchen to check on some of the food and to retrieve his gift for Emily. He stepped back into the room just as Emily lifted the lid off the box she was holding. She frowned.

Sitting in the box was a small Polaroid picture of Ryo's old bike. She stared at it a second before picking it up. Then she noticed something else seemed to be in the box. She moved the tissue paper aside to reveal a single key attached to a carabineer ring. Emily's gaze turned over to Ryo who was smiling at her. Slowly, realization dawned on her.

Ryo had about two seconds to move to avoid a fatal injury as Emily landed halfway on the couch and halfway on him. Her arms wound around his neck tightly as she thanked him over and over again. The others stared at the spectacle in confusion until Cye picked up what Emily had dropped. Holding up the motorcycle key for all to see, everyone came to an understanding as to what Ryo had given her.

Quietly, Kento slipped out of the room without anyone noticing. He carefully set the Christmas bag down on the kitchen table as he checked on the oven and lowered the heat on the stove. He didn't bother suppressing the small sigh as he stirred the potatoes.

How can I top a gift like that, Kento thought.

Unknown to him, as he worked quietly on the dinner, Emily had crept into the kitchen. Since Kento had been standing behind the couch, Emily had spotted him slipping out when she had turned her head. Emily glanced over at the gift bag and gathered a conclusion on the reasoning for Kento's sudden departure. In her absence, Emily had forgotten how sensitive her "adopted" brother could be.

So as not to startle him too badly, she slid up beside him to stand next to him for a minute. Kento didn't say anything as Emily looked at the mashed potatoes.

"What do you think about blue mashed potatoes?" Emily asked.

Kento paused for a second before his frown shifted into a laughing smile.

"The food coloring's over in that counter," he told her.

Emily hugged his arm before retrieving the food coloring. She was happy to see they still had a large quantity of blue leftover from the family's Halloween party last year. She brought it over and dropped the necessary amount of drops into the potatoes before Kento mixed it up the rest of the way.

"Did you like your drawing?" Emily asked.

Kento finally turned his head to flash his smile at Emily.

"It rocks, Em! I love it," he replied.

"You know I like Ryo's gift," Kento winced "but I'd really like to see your gift."

Kento smiled weakly as he made sure the food he was working on didn't need his immediate attention. He walked back over to the kitchen table and Emily followed him. He slid the bag over to her and explained to her to be careful with pulling things out.

Emily reached in and pulled out a beautifully wrapped rectangle that weighed a little heavy. She placed it down on the table before reaching in the bag and pulling out a new full-sized candle. Her face broke out in a smile.

"Sparkling cinnamon? My favorite!"

Kento's smile started to grow. He had spent such a long time in the Yankee Candle store because he had been struggling to remember Emily's favorite scent. He was glad to see the time had obviously paid off. Now came the "perfect" gift.

Kento held his breath as Emily tortured him by slowly peeling off the wrapping paper. He just wanted to rip it all off for her, but he held himself back. Emily peeled off two layers of wrapping paper before coming to the blank backside of a thick, hardback book. Raising an eyebrow, Emily flipped it over to look at the cover.

Kento let out his breath silently when Emily started smiling and flipping through the book. She giggled as she put it down and hugged Kento.

"Ken, it's awesome. I absolutely love it! I love the pictures and the historical legends and information. And the best part is that it's signed by the author!"

Kento nearly fell over backwards. He hadn't realized the book was autographed. Now he _knew_

Emily loved the book on mythological creatures for sure. She sat back down at the table to look through her new book as he moved about cooking. They could hear the others talking out in the living room, but chose to stay in the kitchen together.

Emily loved the book! The thing she loved most about mythological creatures was the various ways they could be depicted, based on different cultures and different viewpoints. Her eyes fell on a creature unfamiliar to her.

"Hey, Kento?" she called softly.

"Yeah, Em?" he replied without turning around.

"Have you ever heard of a will-o'-the-wisp?" Emily questioned him.

"I think I heard Cye mention something like that before," he murmured, frowning when he tried a piece of food.

He reached across to a few spices and mixed them in evenly before trying it again. The taste was still a little off, but at least tasted a bit more pleasantly. Emily made an hmm sound as she read over the description.

"That would make sense. The will-o'-the-wisp is mentioned in English folklore. It's said to be a ghostly light that resembles a flickering lamp and it's seen by travelers at night. It supposedly recedes if the traveler approaches. People say the will-o'-the-wisp draws the travelers away from safe paths," Emily explained.

"You would also find it," Emily jumped and spun around in her seat to face Rowen, "in book IX of John Milton's _Paradise Lost_. Milton compares the will-o'-the-wisp to Satan in tempting Eve to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil."

Emily made another hmm sound as Rowen stepped up behind her to lean over and take a look at Emily's book.

"Your brain must weigh like a gazillion pounds, man," Kento murmured.

Rowen shot him a mock glare while Emily nearly fell out of her seat laughing.

Unknown to the occupants of the house, a figure stood off in the distant on a hill. Their gaze remained on the busy house as a cool breeze blew by.

"Soon. Soon all will be revealed, child."

/…/

/_That evening_/

Everyone was scattered about the house, happily chatting and eating. Emily was pouring herself some punch when Elizabeth Ann appeared beside her.

"Thanks for the invitation, Emily. I've having a great time," Elizabeth Ann said.

Emily smiled, taking a sip of her drink.

"I'm glad. The guys usually invite a few friends over so I thought you'd like to meet them all since you'd already met Sage and Rowen," Emily replied.

She neglected to mention the one furry occupant that was staying hidden upstairs in Ryo's room. Elizabeth Ann whispered a question to Emily so quietly that the younger blonde had to ask her to repeat herself.

"I wanted to know if you could help teach me some sign language," Elizabeth Ann whispered.

"Oh."

Emily was a tad confused. Elizabeth Ann hadn't shown any interest in learning the language before. She actually asked her about that.

"Well, you see, I'm taking a basic sign course for the spring semester and I'm afraid I won't understand it as well. I thought you might help me out a little," Elizabeth Ann confessed.

"Oh! Sure, I don't mind helping. Maybe you can join me and Tom for our monthly silent dinners," Emily suggested.

"What's a silent dinner?" Elizabeth Ann inquired.

Emily proceeded to explain to her what a silent dinner was. A silent dinner was when a group of deaf and/or hearing people gathered together for a meal. It was called a silent dinner because during the dinner no one was allowed to speak. You didn't have to know sign language to attend, but it did help because it was usually the main communication method at silent dinner.

"There are some lower level students that have come out to them before. They usually bring their phones to pass back and forth or gesture a lot. It really helps a lot with expressing yourself and working on your receptive skills," Emily finished explaining.

Elizabeth Ann blushed. "And you said your roommate Tom goes to these…silent dinners?"

Emily nodded. "Every time."

"Hey, Emily! Can you come outside for a minute?"

Emily glanced up and around her friend to see Cye standing in the open doorway.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming. Let me grab my jacket," Emily said, excusing herself from her friend.

Emily went over to the hall closet under the stairs to snatch up her jacket. She pulled it on as she weaved her way around the other people. She zipped her jacket up halfway while walking outside. She stepped out onto the porch and down a few steps. Emily was surprised to see Cye helping an elderly woman out of a car.

Cye took her arm around his elbow and escorted her over to Emily.

"Emily, there's someone I would like you to meet."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I wish you all a Happy New Year and, in the spirit of 2013, I am posting a new chapter. Usually, I would prefer a few more reviews, but I wanted to celebrate the new year with a new chapter.**


	22. Chapter 21

**jrzgrl02: **Oh, it's cool. Kento is like a big teddy bear and with his kid-like nature, he treats Emily like his "adopted" sister. They all do with the exception of Sage and Rowen for obvious reasons. It wasn't a shadow leech that went after Tom. It was just a regular mugger. Keep reading, keep reviewing. Glad you enjoyed Chapter 20, too. I based part of it off of my Christmas traditions to make it all the more realistic. Just read below and see how your predictions end up.

**collegegal: **Thanks. I try to relate to my characters as best as I can and keep to how I think their personalities are. I have a few different books on mythological creatures I like to flip through from time to time. Me and the guys had a wonderful Christmas time. I plan to have a very good year and I wish the same to you.

**Warning: This is a very long chapter and I have spent a lot of time working on it. Hope you enjoy. **** Updates will come and go since I start back to work tomorrow.**

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

/Day 8 of Winter Break, two days until New Year's Eve/

Emily walked up to the front door with her bag slung over her shoulder. She kept reminding herself she needed to send a copy of a special picture from the Christmas party to Mrs. Tredell. It had been so sweet of Cye for introducing her to the kindly old woman. Emily had listened to her story of her daughter and husband and had secretly decided to become a pen pal of sorts to the woman. The special picture had been of her and Mrs. Tredell in front of the Christmas tree.

Her brother's car horn brought her back to the present. She turned back around to flash him a smile.

"Have fun on your date!"

Kento chuckled as Emily came in the house and shut the door behind her. It was hard to believe a few years ago there had rarely been any females that could get all the way through a first date with Sage, let alone have a second date. Surprisingly, both Ryo and Cye had dates tonight, too. As for Rowen, he was working late at the planetarium and Mia was the same except at the University.

This left Kento and Emily alone together at the house. Well, White Blaze, too. Kento greeted her with a grin and wave.

"Did you have a good week with your family?" Kento asked as Emily stopped next to the couch.

"I did, but I'm _really_ looking forward to my week visit here," Emily answered.

"Cool. So I was thinking of ordering pizza and movie marathon," the Hardrock bearer suggested.

Emily smiled weakly. She told him she had to decline and wanted to call it an early night. Kento glanced at the time on the VCR which read 8:32.

"Ya sure? Thought you were always the night owl," Kento pointed out.

"Yeah. Sage kept me busy today helping out around the dojo. Plus, he bought me something to eat on the way out. Hey, did you guys ever figure out the sleeping arrangements?" Emily asked.

"You're bunking in Ryo's room and he's going to sleep on a cot in the study room," Kento explained.

At Emily's disapproving look, Kento quickly explained that no one, including Mia, wanted Emily to sleep on the cot. Ryo had been the one to offer up his bed since he didn't share his room with anyone else. Emily wasn't too happy about it, but figured it was only a week and she could stand it.

"Okay. Well, good night, Kento. I'll see you in the morning," Emily said.

Kento returned the hug she gave him and gave her a soft brotherly-like kiss on the forehead. She disappeared up the stairs and into Ryo's room. Kento picked up his cell phone to order a pizza while flipping through the TV guide for a good movie.

/…/

_A tall man in a dark trench coat appeared in the doorway._

"_Where's the child?"_

Thud.

Kento frowned and glanced up and over his shoulder at the second floor. He thought he had heard something hit the ground. White Blaze was outside on the porch waiting for Ryo which left only him and Emily in the house. Without shifting his gaze, Kento reached over to the remote and muted the TV.

It was just a little after eleven and the earliest any of the guys were due back was after midnight. He listened hard for any other sounds from upstairs yet heard nothing. He turned his head back to finish the movie when he heard the loud crash of glass breaking. The remote dropped from his hand as he shot up to his feet.

"Em? You okay?" he called up to her.

Not receiving a response, he started walking slowly toward the stairs where he paused at the third step. Suddenly, he heard a muffled cry that immediately spurred him into action.

"Emily!" he shouted, bounding up the stairs quickly.

He dashed up the stairs and down the hall to Ryo's room. Ignoring the normal courtesy of knocking, Kento burst into the room with multiple scenarios running through his mind on what he would find. His hand flew to the lamp sitting on the dresser near the doorway and the dim light allowed him to spot Emily easily.

At first, he was overjoyed to find her still in the room but, as he rushed to her side, new worries emerged. She was curled up tightly into a ball with the covers thrown on the ground. Her right hand was lightly holding the side of her head while her left hand was clutching her heart. She appeared to be in great distress as she shook violently.

Kento sat down on the bed and snatched Emily up to pull her into his arms in a tight embrace.

"Em? Em, wake up! It's okay," he murmured in her ear.

She kept shaking but not nearly as bad. Her eyes remained shut, but now her left hand was firmly clutching his shirt while her right hand was squashed between her head and his chest. He kept whispering to her, trying in vain to wake her. He had heard Emily could be a deep sleeper at times, however, Kento felt _this_ wasn't natural.

Stumbling to his feet, Kento lifted Emily up into his arms bridal style and left the room. He was

careful to walk around the broken pieces of a vase beside the bed. He quickly moved down the hall and into his and Cye's room. He quickly found his cell phone and set out a message to the other ronins.

After the whole Emily abduction thing, the ronins had all gotten pagers. They had discovered with distance that their mental link could be strained and hard to hear one another. Their hopes were that the pagers would increase their reaction time to something like this.

/…/

Ryo and Cye were both at the movies together with their dates when their pagers started beeping. People shushed them as they both looked at their pagers. **211 MH.** They both quickly apologized to their dates before making their way to the exit. They had created a system of symbols and numbers to use to make the messages short. 211 meant Emergency with Emily while MH stood for (duh!) Mia's house.

They raced outside to Ryo's motorcycle and jerked their helmets on. The two had met their dates at the restaurant earlier for dinner then back over to the theater for a late movie. Cye jumped onto the back just before Ryo shot off down the road. Ignoring the speed limit and possibility of getting a hell of a ticket, Ryo pushed his bike to get them quickly to the house.

They pulled up to the house just a few seconds before Rowen and Sage. The four quickly ran into the house where they found Kento holding Emily who was no longer shaking and trying to wake her. Taking Emily from him, Rowen and Sage tried their best to awaken her as Kento caught them all up to speed. It was while Sage was tempting to wake Emily through their mental sibling link that Cye noticed something odd.

"Is there something on Emily's arms?" Cye said.

Everyone's eyes fell on Emily's hands where the long sleeves came down to. They could see a small bit of black on the backs of her wrists. Very carefully, with Sage's nod of approval, Cye rolled up part of her right sleeve. What they found surprised and worried them.

On Emily's arm was a series of thin, black lines in the design of tribal art. There were overlapping lines that appeared clear with a barely visible outline, making the black lines appear light green where they overlapped. Upon closer inspection, they found the lines were running up the inside and outside of both arms, extending up to her shoulders.

"Tattoos?" Ryo murmured.

Sage snorted.

"Not in this lifetime _or_ the next. Emily wouldn't _**dare**_ get a tattoo," Sage growled.

At least not one where you could see, Rowen said to himself.

Suddenly, Emily jerked awake and blinked her eyes open. She blinked her eyes, narrowed her gaze, glanced around at their faces and frowned.

"I did go to sleep, didn't I?" asked a clearly confused Emily.

Kento nodded his head. "You did. Before nine. It's (glances over his shoulder) after 11:30 now."

"Am I running a fever?" she asked, blushing a little when she realized where she was sitting.

Rowen turned red, too, considering the guys were all crowded around them. He carefully slid her off his lap to sit her leaning against him. Emily's question was actually a good one. Cye placed the back of his hand against her forehead and shook his head.

"No."

Emily's frown deepened.

"Then why the _Hell_ am I down here, awake and suddenly getting claustrophobic?" she demanded.

At her last word, they all immediately backed up to give her some space with the exception of Rowen who merely dropped his arm from around her shoulders. Kento stayed on his knees so he was looking up at Emily.

"I heard a crash upstairs and I went to check up on you. I think you were having a night terror. I couldn't wake you up. I called the guys back here and then we just found those marks on your arms when you woke up," Kento said.

Emily's head was spinning like a hyperactive owl, her gaze shooting to each guy with uncertainty splashed across her face.

"W-what marks?" Emily stuttered.

Sometime between her waking and moving, Emily's sleeves had rolled back down. Kento urged her to look for herself. All the sudden, the ronins got the second biggest shock of their life when Emily rolled up her sleeves to reveal bare arms. (Note: The biggest shock had been the whole Emily kidnapped by the dynasty.)

"What the frick you all been smoking? There's not a thing on my arms!" Emily exclaimed, standing up with an irritated look on her face.

Sage stepped forward to lay a comforting hand on his sister's shoulder. He knew that this behavior was a result of sleepy crankiness. He leaned close and whispered in her ear. His calming voice helped to settle her nerves as exhaustion set in and she sagged against him.

[I'm going to take Emily back up to Ryo's room. I'll be back in a minute.]

Emily allowed her brother to put an arm around her before guiding her upstairs. The others waited until the two disappeared into Ryo's room to break the silence.

"You guys saw those weird markings on her arms, right? I'm not the only one?" Kento asked.

The other three nodded their heads. So, logically, Kento's next question involved a few obscenities and the demanding of where said markings had gone.

"I don't know! None of us know, Ken. Emily obviously has no awareness of what happened. Did she wake up at all before we got here?" Rowen asked.

Kento answered in the negative. They all sat around speaking quietly until Sage finally returned downstairs. He explained to them why he had taken so long. He had cleaned up the broken pieces of the vase before he would allow his sleep deprived sister to lie down. Then he had waited until Emily was definitely asleep before leaving the room.

"Any idea what happened tonight?" Sage asked.

No one had an answer for him and Kento even apologized for calling them all back to the house. However, Sage cut him off in mid-apology.

"No. Something's going on and _I_ don't like it. I don't know if it has to do with our armors, but I'd like to ask you all to keep a closer eye on Emily while she's still here," Sage requested.

"We're here for you, Sage. Emily, too," Ryo said, answering for him.

As one, the five young men came to an agreement that they would behave as if nothing had happened, but that if Emily started asking questions they would be honest with her.

/…/

/Day 10 of Winter Break, New Year's Eve/

Yesterday had been an annoyingly long day. Emily had woken up early and thrown Kento out of his bed to question him about the previous night's happenings. Fortunately, Cye had been woken when Kento had literally been thrown from his bed. It had taken the combined efforts of him and his buddy to calm the irate blonde.

"What the Hell is going on?!"

Apparently, Emily didn't like the idea of having to accept that there was no direct or logical answer for the strange happenings. The five young men and Mia had avoided her at all costs, preferring to allow her to train outside in solitude. Most of her time had been spent meditating with White Blaze lying nearby.

Now, as per their annual tradition for New Year's Eve, the group including Mia and Emily were out camping. The guys all slept in one large tent and the girls slept in another tent. White Blaze chose to sleep in the girls' tent between the two of them. They celebrated with a campfire, fireworks, and a nighttime hike. They ended off the night with s'mores and wishing each other a Happy New Year.

Because they offered to put out the fire after everyone else were asleep, Rowen and Emily shared a special kiss that would have had Sage dousing them instead of the flames. Emily leaned up to give Rowen another small peck on the mouth.

"Happy New Year, Ro," Emily whispered.

"Happy New Year, Em," he murmured back.

They separated with equal smiles on their faces. Emily unzipped the tent and climbed in. Mia was sitting up in her sleeping bag reading a book while White Blaze was fast asleep on Emily's sleeping bag. Emily chuckled while turning around to zip the tent flaps shut so as not to let the bugs in.

"Aren't you tired, Mia?" Emily asked, stooping down due to the size of the tent.

Mia let out a small yawn while nodding. She closed her book and settled down in her sleeping bag.

"I wanted to wait for you to come back first. It's starting to get pretty chilly out there, huh?" Mia asked, closing her eyes.

"No. Not really."

Mia reopened her eyes and frowned up at Emily who was nudging Blaze in the stomach to move him off her sleeping bag. He rolled on his side so his back faced Mia and his head faced Emily. Without warning, Mia flashed her a knowing smile.

"Got a hot kiss from Rowen, didn't you?"

"You planning to tell my brother?"

"No."

"My family?"

"No."

"Cye, Kento, and Ryo?"

"No."

"Then yes, I did."

Mia laughed quietly before rolling over and falling sleep. Emily unzipped her sleeping bag and climbed in. With her fingerless gloves off, Emily relied on the power of the Wildfire armor to keep her hands warm. She snuggled her head into her pillow and fell asleep in an instant.

Sadly, she did not remain asleep for long. Barely an hour later, her bladder forced her to a state of wakefulness.

"Knew I shouldn't have had that late drink of Mr. Pibb," Emily mumbled.

She carefully and quietly made her way out of the tent without disturbing the other occupants. She walked down a path between the trees to a small wooden building which held a couple of toilets and showers. The blonde was extra relieved to see someone had left toilet paper; she had dreaded having to walk all the way back for it.

When she was done, Emily washed her hands in freezing cold water which made her jerk her hands back. Rather than use the environmentally-friendly dryer, Emily summoned up the warm heat of Wildfire to dry and warm her hands. She stepped outside into the cool breeze and slowly trekked her way back towards camp.

Emily was halfway back to camp when she stopped dead in the middle of the path. She had the sense there was something nearby and it _wasn't_ one of the others. She could feel that whatever it was lay behind her in wait.

If it's an attacker, they won't know what hit them, Emily thought.

Suddenly, she whipped around, ready for a fight, and froze again. Floating in midair was a small blue ball of light. The ball bobbed around in the air and came close to her face. She could hear unintelligible whispering as they ball neared her face. Yet she seemed to understand what the light wanted.

"You want me to follow?" she said as more of a question.

The ball moved away and behind a tree before appearing around the side as if motioning her to follow. Slowly, as if in a trance, Emily followed it through the trees and off the beaten path. The ball weaved gently through the trees, allowing her to walk at a steady pace after it. She was led far away from the camp site and to a ledge where a lake was below. This is where Emily came out of her trance.

"Hmm?"

Emily looked over the ledge and cursed as the ball moved away in gestures that indicated exactly where it wanted her to go.

"There's not a chance in Hell. That must be over a thirty foot drop!"

Emily stepped back from the ledge and the ball of light. It shifted closer to her until it was less than an inch away from her face. She gasped when her necklace floated out from underneath her shirt and pullover. A glint of the light caught off the colored ring of her necklace. Her eyes flew to the mysterious light.

"This has to do with my parents. My _biological_ parents," she mumbled.

The light bobbed up and down gracefully like a head nodding. Then the light zipped to the edge of the cliff and dove down. Emily watched it go and mumbled another curse.

"I'm going to really hate myself for this later," Emily said out loud, tucking her necklace back under her shirt.

She took a shaky breath before running to the edge and diving off. The plummet was quick and the ball of light circled around her the whole way down. The biggest shock was the intense shooting of ice coursing through her body when she hit the water. She snapped her eyes closed just before the impact.

/…/

Emily gasped at the sudden shock in temperature change and was surprised she didn't get a lung full of water. Her eyes flew open, giving her an even bigger shock. She wasn't in the dark lake anymore or even back on the ledge. Instead she was sitting under a large Japanese maple tree

with branches of fiery red-orange leaves swinging in the breeze.

"What the devil?" she murmured.

She glanced around at the open grassy area, trying to discern where she was since it was nighttime out wherever she was. The little ball of light let out a flash that momentarily blinded Emily. When the light had faded, a familiar figure stood before her. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or worried to see him.

"It's been a while," he said.

Emily nodded. "A little over two years." A glance around. "I'm in the dynasty, aren't I?"

He shook his head as he approached her and sat down across from her.

"The dynasty was Talpa's domain and the Ronin Warriors saw to the end of that. You are, however, in the Nether Realm. I summoned you here to speak with you," he told her.

"What about last time, Ancient One? You were able to communicate with me before. Why not do the same without having to _throw myself __**off a cliff**_?" Emily asked, her voice dropping to a low frustration level at the end.

The Ancient One smiled and reached forward to pat Emily on the knee, but she jerked it to avoid the touch. He slowly brought his hand back to rest in his lap.

"I hope you will forgive me for that and much more, child." Emily glared. "Since giving you your necklace, I have been unable to communicate with you. The necklace was my only lasting connection to you. This particular way was the _only_ way to get you here."

The more he spoke, the more she became confused. It was only now she noticed he was holding what looked like a picture in his hands. Curious, Emily leaned forward and reached over to gently take the photograph from him. He watched as she turned it around to face her. She stared at the photograph in silence.

The picture consisted of two people under a tree similar to the one they were sitting under. It was a man holding an infant. The child was fast asleep and had a small, thin patch of light hair on their head. The man was staring down at the child with a soft expression on his face. His expression told her that he viewed this child like the greatest treasure in the world.

Her gaze was drawn to the man. He had short dark blonde hair and his bangs swept across his forehead to the left. But his bangs did nothing to hide his dark yet soft blue eyes. There was a thin, but sizeable scar that ran along the side of his face from the side of his nose to scoop halfway under his right eye. Suddenly, her eyes flew to what the man wore around his neck.

The hand that wasn't clutching the photograph shot up to her neck where she fumbled to pull out her necklace. She glanced at what was around her neck then back to the picture. Then her gaze

ever so slowly shifted back to the man who sat across from her.

"Is…is t-this…?" Emily couldn't even finish her question as her voice cracked.

The Ancient One placed his hands over her hand that was holding the photograph. This helped stop the shaking that had started in that particular hand. His index finger tapped the photograph gently next to the side of the man.

"This is your father, Emily. His name was Andrew Oliver Wolfe. This picture was taken shortly after you were born," he explained.

Emily's lower lip trembled as her throat closed up and words escaped her. It seemed to take an eternity of deep breaths and small squeezes of the hand holding hers to bring her to a state of being able to speak again.

"How…why do you have this picture of me and my father?" she whispered.

Her shock factor skyrocketed even more than before when the Ancient One produced another photograph. This one consisted of two young men in their early twenties; one was obviously Andrew (with no scar) and the other man looked very much like the Ancient One, only younger.

"Your father was my best friend. When you were born, he named me your Godfather. It was his wish that I care for you should anything happen to him and your mother."

Emily suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and she brought a hand up from her necklace to the side of her head. She groaned before turning a weary face back towards her…*gasp* _Godfather_.

"You're making my head hurt," she told him honestly.

"I apologize, Emily. It has never been my intentions to harm you. I was only trying to protect you," he explained.

It was clear that Emily didn't understand what he was talking about and she was very blunt when telling him just that. He chuckled as he reached up to touch Emily softly on the cheek.

"You have your father's spirit. Perhaps, if I start at the beginning, I can clear up some of your confusion," he offered.

"Please do try," she replied.

He started first with telling her that he had known Andrew since they were in their teens, but had known Annalise only a few years after the two had begun dating. Because of this, he chose to tell her about her parents first.

"Annalise was a very quiet woman, but she loved Andrew very dearly. She had light blonde hair just like yourself and her eyes were a gorgeous emerald green. She had no brothers or sisters yet she came to identify me as a surrogate brother after they married. She had a great love for the stars and animals," he explained.

Emily quietly asked if he had any pictures of her mother. At this, he gave her a sad smile and a small shake of the head.

"I am deeply sorry, Emily. But the only photographs I have are these ones of your father. They were only together a few years before marrying and having you. I'm sorry, but your mother died of complications from giving birth."

Emily felt as though she should have been crying. She would never know her mother and it seemed not even her assigned Godfather could tell her very much about her. However, she must have been channeling her brother because she felt herself internalize the sorrow and no tears came.

"Your father…" the Ancient One paused.

Emily could tell this part was hard for him to say. She knew whatever had taken her father from her had also taken _his_ best friend from him.

"Your father was a _great_ man. He was a very well-liked man and I miss him very much. He was a skilled archer but his greatest gift was listening to others and offering them advice. It didn't matter what time of the day it was. He would take the time to listen to someone's story and sometimes he wouldn't even offer advice. He would just simply listen."

Emily listened with close attention. He had caught her interest even more when he had mentioned her father's skills in archery. It was a weird coincidence that she had taken up archery like her fiancé and now, apparently, her father.

He told her all about her father from the time he knew him leading up to what had happened. Andrew had been adventurous and intelligent, often a great winner of games. He had suffered some hearing loss in his left ear from a childhood accident, but could still hear quite well. He, like Annalise, had been an only child all his life.

"You told me Annalise died after giving birth to me. What about Andrew? What happened to him? And why didn't I stay with you?" Emily murmured.

"All in good time, Emily. I'll be more than happy to answer all of your questions," he promised.

"Talpa was coming into power and he had his eyes set on the bridging the connection from the Nether Realm to the Mortal Realm. I was the guardian of the Mortal Realm and could not allow him to take over. I left your father with Annalise in your home village. As I know Sage of the Halo told you, I fought Talpa and defeated him. I split his armor into separate armors and cast them out into the Mortal Realm."

Emily knew the rest of the history from Mia and the others. The Ancient One had defeated the evil spirit who had vowed to exact revenge upon his return. Talpa had been so weakened by the Staff of the Ancients he had been forced to remain in the Nether Realm.

"I returned home and life moved on. Your parents married then your mother became pregnant with you. Now, you must understand, that time between the two realms works differently. There's no way to tell for sure how they match up because it always seems to vary. When you were born, nearly a thousand years had gone by in the Mortal Realm."

Emily listened in horror as she learned how the Ancient One had been called away for peace talks between neighboring nations. It had been at the end of these talks that he had learned that their home village had been attacked. At this point, Emily had already been born and was a few months old.

"I rushed back as fast as I could, but I was too late. The village had managed to drive their attackers off, but many were seriously injured, including your father. They thought his ribs were only bruised, but they had punctured a lung and he had internal bleeding. He had pushed everything into surviving until I had arrived."

Emily started to ask him a question, but he cut her off by holding up his hand.

"I have always cared a great deal for you. I knew that Talpa was coming back to power and I knew he had found a way to bridge the two realms together. It wasn't safe to stay with me because Talpa could have taken you from me. I took you into the Mortal Realm and I searched for _the_ family I knew would care for you the most.

"After three days of searching, I used the Staff to look into the future and foresaw what the Ronin Warriors would one day become. I could sense that the bearer of the Halo armor would help you in the greatest sense. I came to your family, I spoke with them, and they agreed to adopt you."

She should be angry that her own _Godfather_ had given her up (no matter how wonderful her life had been with her 'family') yet she understood deep down why he had done it.

/_If I had stayed, he wouldn't have been able to have aided the Ronins. And the mortals might have suffered._/

"I forgive you and I understand why you gave me up."

She closed her eyes as he placed a hand on her cheek and leaned forward to kiss her softly on the forehead. He whispered something in a language unfamiliar to her. She surprised him (and herself) by leaning into him and placing her arms around him in a light hug.

Emily didn't even realize she had started crying until she felt him wiping the tears away. It took her quite a while to get it fully out of her system. Eventually, she stopped crying and ended with a few hiccups.

"I'll have to send you back soon, but there's something I need to ask you," the Ancient One told her.

"What?" she whispered.

"Have any strange markings appeared on you? Or have you heard voices other than my own cautioning you from the shadows?" he asked.

She denied hearing any voices, but she told him about the strange happenings of the night before. He politely asked her to check her arms again. Sighing, Emily rolled her sleeves up but was then shocked to see the markings the ronins had seen.

"I can explain this."

"I wish you would."

/…/

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time Emily crawled back into the tent and curled on top of her sleeping bag. Using his spiritual power, her Godfather had returned her to the Mortal Realm only after an hour's time had passed. Emily clutched the photographs of her father from underneath her pillow. She felt very light and couldn't wait until morning to tell her brother all about her adventurous night.

"_In the Mortal Realm, I can only come to you in your dreams. I will always be there if you need me. I am watching over you, my darling goddaughter."_

Emily let out a quiet but happy sigh. She now knew who her real parents had been and she still had a connection to them through her Godfather, the Ancient One. As she drifted off to sleep, the young blonde wondered what all she was going to have to explain in the morning.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

**Author's Note: Boooooy, this was a record-breaking chapter! Over 5,000 words and **_**the**_** chapter you have all been waiting for.**

Kento: Tell 'em.

Tigergirl: Tell 'em what?

Kento: *frown* Don't be bashful. Tell 'em.

Tigergirl: I'm certain I don't know what you're talking about. *walks out of the room*

Kento: *in a whisper* _TG's birthday is on Thursday (01/10). The guys and I are throwing her a party but I know she would __**love**__ to hit a record of reviews on this chapter._

Tigergirl: *from the kitchen* Kento, where's the bread?

Kento: I left it in the car!

Tigergirl: *walks back through the room and outside*

Kento: *back in a whisper* _The most reviews she's gotten on a single chapter for this story was 6. Since her birthday is on the tenth, we're hoping to get 10 reviews for her. _*moves drapes aside to make sure Tigergirl is still outside* _Please try and help us with this special birthday gift for TG._


	23. Chapter 22

Tigergirl: *walks in the door* So, yes, it was my birthday over a week ago. The boys had me celebrating for a week. Which is why they are all *SNORE*…sleeping in the living room of my apartment.

Cye and Kento: *sleeping on opposite sides of the couch* SNORE.

Ryo: *sleeping on a bean bag chair* SNORE.

Rowen: *sleeping on a desk chair with his head down on the desk* SNORE.

Sage: *sleeping in the armchair with his arms crossed and head down* SNORE.

Tigergirl: *shakes her head* It was _not easy_ to explain why five young men have spent a week in my apartment. Thankfully, my kitty got along with Ryo's "kitty." Wasn't easy to sneak that big tiger in here, though.

White Blaze: *curled up in the entranceway with a small cat curled up on his back* SNORE.

Tigergirl: So since the poor boys are sleeping, I'm apparently going to have to do the review mail call today. Let's start with this review from **jrzgrl02. Godfather, yep. I know a lot of people were thinking father or maybe father's brother. Oh, I never said Emily actually had a tattoo, but Rowen's figuring if she ever did get one she would have it somewhere easily hidden by clothes. Thank you, thank you. I did have a pretty awesome birthday.**

Kento: *lets out a snort and rolls over* SNORE.

Tigergirl: *shakes her head* Our next review comes from a newcomer. **IceFire 27: Oooh, Oooh! New reader and reviewer. I'm glad to hear you're hooked. This is actually my longest story ever written that is actually going to see an ending. Here's the next chapter and I hope to read more reviews from you.**

White Blaze: *whines*

Cat: *kneading her claws into Blaze's back*

Tigergirl: Shoo! Shoo, cat!

Cat: *jumps off White Blaze and darts under TG's bed*

Tigergirl: Okay. So our final review comes from one of our ever faithful reviewers, **collegegal. Oh, it is totally cool. I did very little fanfic writing during my college years (except during the summer) and posted maybe once during those four years. Thanks! I'm glad you like the chapter. Just wait until you read below about those tattoos and other fun things. I did have a special and happy birthday. Thank you. **

**Author's Note: So, in all reality, I did have a very fun birthday. Nice dinner with friends at Golden Corral then family dinner at Perkins another night. Got to go golfing with my "old man" and shot 4 strokes under him with 3 pars and my FIRST chip & birdie! For those of you who are not golf-savvy, all that is very VERY good.**

**I hope you enjoy this new chapter. Sorry it took so long, but my muse decided to take a weeklong vacation to Australia. And then when it came back it decided to inspire me on another story.**

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

/Day 11 of Winter Break, New Year's Day/

Emily crawled out of the tent still clad in her clothes from last night and her pullover. She was surprised to find only Mia and White Blaze sitting at the campfire eating breakfast. She glanced around as she walked up to Mia and accepted a plate of food.

"Wh'r are da guys?" Emily mumbled with her mouth full.

Mia gave her a funny look.

"Did you forget what the guys wanted to do with you to celebrate the New Year?" Mia asked.

It took Emily a second before she gasped. She quickly scarfed down the rest of her breakfast and ran back over to the tent to dive inside. Mia laughed as she watched the other woman zip up the tent. The tent moved around in jerky movements of someone trying to dress and dress fast. A few seconds later, the tent unzipped and Emily popped out.

In all of the excitement, Emily had completely forgotten what she had asked the guys prior to her coming back into the country. She had asked to train with each of them individually to see how far along her power had come. They had all agreed to do it on New Year's Day as a Ronin way of celebrating.

We can have our chat about my parents later, Emily said to herself.

"So I'm guessing all the guys are all at different locations?" Emily said.

Mia nodded. She could tell Emily was happy about spending the day training. She informed the young blonde that they wanted her to start with Cye.

"There's a lake nearby in that direction," Mia said, pointing.

Emily hid a smile when she turned her back on the older woman. She knew exactly what lake the woman was talking about. Bidding the other woman a short goodbye, Emily followed White Blaze down to the lake since the only way she knew to get there was the cliff. She stopped at the lakeside and spotted Cye's backpack sitting there innocently.

"Guess you've gone under," Emily muttered.

Placing her backpack down beside his, Emily took a deep breath before diving down into the water. Like early this morning, she felt the pinpricks of ice shoot through her body but her body adjusted quickly as she thought of Cye and the Torrent armor. As she began to dive down into the surprisingly deep lake in search of Cye, Emily thought about her ronin power.

In the beginning, she had unconsciously channeled power from the separate armors. For example, she would astral project any time she took a short nap and she had set off the school fire alarm at least a dozen times when her temper (and fire) had flared. Her brother had worked with her on meditation which had helped her in figuring out how to channel each armor.

Emily touched down at the bottom of the lake and found Cye waiting in his subarmor. He greeted her by way of bowing and she returned the bow. With fish swimming all around them, Emily watched as Cye began moving the water with small motions of his arms. Only the one part of the water was moving with him instead of the entire lake.

After a short time, Cye moved his arms and directed the small water current over to Emily. Using much wider motions with her arms, Emily separated the medium-sized current into two small currents. She directed each current with a hand each, moving her arms above and around her. Cye watched her with a nodding of his head.

After her arms started to tire, Emily swept the water back into its normal state. Without warning, Cye launched himself at Emily who instantly evaded him. Because she wasn't wearing armor of any kind, Emily had to wrap a shield-like exterior of water around her body. This allowed her move fluidly through the water like a fish.

They sparred each other half-heartedly with their main goal to practice, neither one actually wanting to harm one another. Finally, Cye landed a light blow on Emily's stomach and she lost the concentration of her shield. She also noticed that it was over an hour for her to be underwater without the need to breath and she could feel the pain starting to seep in.

Emily quickly but carefully shot up to the surface and promptly took in a big breath of air before swimming over to the water edge. She lifted herself up onto the grass at the same time Cye surfaced. He swam over to the edge and rested his body on his arms as he floated half-in, half-out of the water.

He watched in mild fascination as Emily held her arms open out in front of her. With her eyes closed, Emily called upon Wildfire to dry and warm her chilled body. Cye noticed that the kanji for Spirit appeared on Emily's forehead started to glow not in her usual light green, but red.

/_Must have to do with the particular armor power she's using._/

Emily smiled as she shook the last few drops from her hair. Cye chuckled as he propelled himself onto his back to float.

"We're all going to meet back up tonight for dinner at eight. I decided to make pigs in a blanket."

"Okay. So who am I going to see next?"

"Kento."

Emily grinned. "Sweet."

With a quick wave goodbye, Emily was off in the direction she knew she would find Kento. White Blaze trailed along beside her with his tail gently beating against the back of her legs.

/…/

"All right, squirt! Let's see what you got!" Kento cheered, smashing a fist into his other hand.

Emily grinned. They had started out with an arm wrestle in which Kento had easily pinned Emily's arm. The blonde had secretly sworn revenge on him.

Kento picked up a large stone with a grunt. "Ready, Em?"

The blonde nodded as she bent down a little. Kento smiled big before hurtling the large rock up into the air and towards Emily. Feeling the strength of Hardrock radiating through her body, Emily felt it travel down her arms and to her hands. Putting her gloved hands into fists, Emily waited for it to get close before pulling her right hand back.

She moved her whole body forward and punched the boulder with her right hand right as it would have smashed into her. The stone broke into two smaller pieces where Emily had punched it with the pieces falling to the ground behind her. Kento let out a loud whoop before picking up another boulder of similar size and throwing it at Emily.

This time, Emily punched with her left hand and got the same results. This went on for a few minutes with the energetic ronin chucking large rocks at her and Emily alternating on different ways of breaking the stones. She mostly used her hands but broke a few with kicks using her feet and legs. She really took him by surprise when she returned the favor.

By now, Emily had worked up quite a sweat and Kento immediately threw her into a sparring match with him. THUD! Emily blocked a hard punch to her face with the steel, bony side of her arm. Their sparring lasted until Kento dodged backwards and Emily ended up punching the ground, causing a small crack in the ground.

"Phew! Man, you've gotten good!" Kento cheered, clapping Emily on the back.

She immediately pushed him away and took a step back.

"Dude, you stink!" Emily exclaimed.

Kento chuckled. "You're not exactly a fresh daisy, either."

Emily reached forward and shoved him hard, making him stumble a little bit.

"_You_ go take a shower. I'll see you back at camp later."

After a quick dip in another nearby lake, Emily ran off to meet Ryo. Her time with him went by in a blur and before she knew it she was standing in a dark cave with her brother. Or at least, she hoped her brother was present and not standing outside the cave with that "evil" grin on his face as she stumbled through the dark. The cave was so dark she could barely see her hand in front of her face.

"Sage?" she called.

The only sound she heard was her voice echoing through the dark space. She stumbled into the wall with a groan. How was she supposed to work with the power of the Halo armor if she couldn't see a darn thing?

[Not all light can be seen by the naked eye.]

Emily sighed in frustration. [If that is true, big brother, then _how_ will I be able to find you and White Blaze?]

She heard a familiar chuckle echo through the cave, but she couldn't pinpoint the direction it came from.

[The most common light sources are thermal. A body at a given temperature emits a characteristic spectrum of black-body radiation. Close your eyes and use the armor power to detect us.]

Sighing again, Emily let her eyes close. She put her arms out in front of her with her palms face-up. She took a deep breath as she summoned the power of the Halo armor to her. The light began radiating from within before she felt it reach out like a beacon. Invisible waves of light bounced off objects among the cave and bounced back to her.

A smile broke out on her face as a particularly large wave flowed back to her.

"There you are."

She opened her eyes and continued to use Halo to guide her through the cave. She could tell the cave was large with plenty of open space. She walked around a corner and found her brother standing nearby with lit candles placed on the ground.

"Good job," he praised her.

She laughed as she looked around her. She didn't see White Blaze anywhere but it was a pleasant feeling to see her brother in his subarmor and know there was no danger nearby.

"So is there where you and I spar until it's time for me to go find Rowen?" she asked.

He surprised her by shaking her head. He explained that he wanted her to continue using the newest ability he had just taught her to find White Blaze.

"He's somewhere deep within the cave and I want you to find him. Sometimes, I didn't always have the ability to light up the darkest of places so I had to rely on Halo to extend my other senses."

Emily frowned, but then she nodded her head with understanding.

"That kid in the mountains. The one you found in the blizzard of '09. Did you use this ability to find him?" she asked.

Sage nodded. "I couldn't see anything yet I think the armor was trying to guide me. The ability sort of…just came to me."

Emily smiled. She knew very well how that felt. She was learning new tricks every day to her seemingly endless amount of ronin power.

/…/

"For a six hundred something pound feline, you sure hide pretty well."

White Blaze purred loudly while rubbing up against Emily's side. She had spent a lot more time than she had anticipated searching for the tiger. The sun was low in the sky as she trudged up to the house. For some odd reason, Sage had sent her back to Mia's house to see Rowen.

As the two neared the house, Emily calculated that she really only had time for an hour with Rowen before they needed to head back out to the camp site. Upon arriving at the house, they found Rowen standing near a trampoline and setting up some targets that were tilted upwards. Emily glanced up on the trampoline to see the bow Rowen had given her for Christmas and a few of her old arrows.

"What are you up to, love?" Emily asked in a hesitant voice.

Rowen motioned to her to get up on the trampoline. Shooting him a confused look, Emily lifted herself up onto the trampoline and stumbled a little as she tried to get her feet under her. White Blaze crawled underneath the trampoline and laid down, managing to worry Emily just a little about bouncing.

"I wanted to try something with ya that trick archers have tried mastering. I know Strata has given you the ability to astral project, but I want to help you improve your archery," Rowen explained.

"O-oookay," Emily drawled out, still quite confused.

Rowen chuckled as Emily picked up her bow and one of her arrows. His next question threw her for a loop.

"Come again?" she asked.

He reached up and took the extra arrows off the trampoline before repeating his question.

"What do you notice when I'm launching an arrow?" he asked.

Emily scrunched up her face in deep concentration. It had been a while since she had seen Rowen in his royal blue armor. She thought about the battle between him and the two warlords just before their last capture.

"The air. You're usually…floating?...in midair," Emily guessed.

Rowen nodded. He explained that he was going to get her to attempt to do the same. At first, he had her just jumping with the bow and arrow in her hands with her gaze on the targets. Emily admitted it did feel quite awkward, but after a few minutes of bouncing she felt comfortable enough to raise the arrow to her bow

"Good. You're looking good. Why don't you try releasing the arrow now?" Rowen suggested.

Emily was a little nervous about that, especially with him standing so close to the targets. However, she chose that moment to push off hard from the trampoline, quickly raise her bow and release the arrow. Emily hated to admit it to herself or out loud that she was disappointed when the arrow struck the ground.

When she came down, she allowed herself to bounce with less power so she could come to a standing stop. Rowen tossed up another arrow to her and encouraged her to try again. It took a few tries and twisting her body back so she was pointing downwards at an angle to land an arrow on a target.

After that, she jumped off the trampoline and landed next to Rowen after performing a front flip in midair. Rowen congratulated her with a soft but deep kiss on the mouth. A rough shove at his knees caused him to break the kiss. White Blaze stood there giving him the look.

"Sage been talking to you again?" Rowen mumbled.

White Blaze nodded his head once, earning him a muttered curse from Emily. After Emily stashed her bow and arrows in the house, the trio ran back towards the camping site. Emily beat them both there by dashing from tree to tree via the limbs above.

The early evening went by quick as Rowen took a shower while Emily assisted Cye with dinner. Then Emily went over and took a shower after Rowen returned to the campsite. Emily sat nervously during the group munching on pigs in a blanket. Sage must have picked up on her nervousness because he stood up and walked over to sit down to his sister.

"What's wrong, Em?" he asked, placing a hand on her arm.

She smiled softly at him and shook her head.

"Nothing's wrong. In fact, everything's great. I just need to talk to you guys about something," she answered.

The others grew quiet, having first heard Sage's question then Emily's response. She excused herself to grab something from her and Mia's tent. She returned with two pictures in her hands. Sage couldn't see what they were when she sat down beside him. She handed one quietly to him while holding the other.

Sage stared down at the photograph quietly. It was a photograph of a man holding a small baby. He passed it around to the others until it reached Rowen who sat on Emily's other side.

"Em, who is this?" Rowen asked.

"That's me…and Andrew. My father."

The ronins and Mia gasped.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tigergirl: **Okay, so the ronins are all still asleep in my apartment. Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and love me for this complete fake-out. PSYCH! The chapter's not done yet. Keep reading, everyone! **

/…/

It took Emily several minutes to calm everyone down and explain her full story of how the picture had come into her possession. Then she showed them the other photograph, the one of her father and the Ancient One. She told them everything, starting from her sleepy walk to the bathroom to her returning to the tent.

They had been a little hesitant to believe her but Emily had never lied before and the photographs were strong evidence.

"There's something else. Something else the Ancient O-,…my _godfather_ told me about," Emily said.

"What's that?" Kento asked from across the firepit.

Emily stood up and rolled up the sleeves to her pullover.

"Do you guys remember those markings you supposedly saw on my arms?" Emily asked.

Everyone including Mia nodded. Mia had been told about the incident before they had gone camping. Emily closed her eyes and breathed a big sigh. Sage and Kento nearly stumbled backwards off the logs they'd been sitting on while everyone else stared in astonishment.

Slowly, as if an invisible being were using paintbrushes, thin, black lines glided across her arms. The overlapping lines appeared light green just like the two times before. Sage shot up to his feet to take one of Emily's arms with both his hands.

"H-How…? Wh-wha-what?" Sage struggled to formulate a full question.

"Take a deep breath, Sage," Emily instructed.

Sage drew in a big deep breath which seemed to settle his nerves a little.

"These markings are rare in the Nether Realm. They come with the genetics of being a Shadow. My father had the recessive Shadow gene and it turns out it's…uh…active with me? The Ancient One wasn't even sure it was going to be active with me. It turns out that the Shadow gene can show at any time between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Both parents don't need to have the gene for it to be passed on and active."

They had a million questions to ask. What was a Shadow? Were the markings the only indication of being a Shadow? Was she only part Shadow?

"The Nether Realm, _obviously_, is different from our "realm"[1] and so are its people. When Andrew was only a kid, there were several people that had the Shadow gene. All of them were full-blooded Shadows. Even back then, they were considered a rarity. No two Shadows showed the same markings or coloring in the overlapping lines."

Emily paused to collect her thoughts and let some of the information sink in. All eyes were on her and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop over the crackling of the fire.

"By twist of fate or genes or whatever the f-OOH!" Sage, who had still been standing right next to Emily, had jerked his arm around her and quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

Sage gave her a pointed look. [Use a different word, _baby sister_. You're not to use _that_ type of language around me until I'm dead plus three days. Just to make sure I'm really dead.[2] ]

Emily grinned at him through her hand. She silently promised to tone her language down a smidge. Only then did Sage remove his hand. Everyone's nerves had loosened in that comedic moment between the siblings.

"As I was saying, by whatever twist of fate, I am a half-Shadow. My father had the half-blood gene, too, but my godfather explained that there's no real way to explain how the genetics passes down. And I, for one, consider that a headache for another day."

Rowen nodded his head in agreement. He had a high IQ and even he was having a hard time following all the logistics of what Emily was saying. Finally, one of them spoke up.

"What does being a Shadow or half-Shadow entail?" Mia asked.

"Well, apparently, I can call up these markings, for a lack of better word. The Ancient One isn't sure what Shadow abilities I may inherit, but the shadows supposedly act as a warning system of sorts. I thought I was getting paranoid back at the college, but he says it must have been the early stages of hearing them. He believes I may have the capability to shift through the shadows with practice," Emily explained.

"Shift?" Cye asked.

"Kind of like teleporting, I guess. The Ancient One wasn't quite sure how Shadows "shift." He thinks I may be one of very few Shadows left. There's very little knowledge of their history and abilities."

"I'm confused about one thing."

Everyone's eyes snapped to Kento. They all thought "Only _one_ thing?!" and wondered exactly what that one thing could be. Emily nodded her head for him to speak.

"The Ancient One sacrificed himself so we could travel between the realms like the warlords did. How is it that you can see him, hear him, feel his touch?" Kento questioned.

Emily explained it had been a special sacrifice. Having used the Staff of the Ancients to foresee what would happen, the Ancient One had performed a ritual that would keep his spirit from going on after his death. She explained he had had multiple reasons for doing this. One, he had wanted to further guide the ronins should they need his guidance. Two, he had not wanted to leave Emily without any ties to her real parents.

"He would have come to me sooner, but he knew mom and dad were going to tell me in time. So he waited."

With that said, everyone stayed around the campfire, trying to digest all the information Emily had just dropped on them. It was certainly a lot to take in and in such a short amount of time. However, they were all thankful for one thing. Emily now knew about her true parents and even a godfather she hadn't already been aware of.

Sage put an arm around behind his sister's shoulders and placed a soft kiss on the side of her head. He felt at peace that Emily had someone to talk to about her biological family and that that person was the Ancient One.

Perhaps now life can return to normal, Sage thought.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

[1] This is where Emily did a small version of air quotes.

[2] I love this quote from Ice Age: Continental Drift. Best quote ever written! I may be a little off on the sentence, but I know I'm awful close or spot on.

Tigergirl: So I finally finished off this chapter. I'm on chapter four on that other story my muse decided to inspire me on. Sadly, it is still untitled. The summary is a work in progress but I may list it on the next chapter here and ask for some suggestions for titles.

Ronins and White Blaze: SNORE.

Tigergirl: *glare* I don't know _how_ they are still sleeping. Or why for that matter. Either way, I'm getting them up if they ain't awake by tonight.

White Blaze: *snort*

Tigergirl: Harrumph. *smile* Anyway, please read, review, and enjoy!


	24. Chapter 23

**jrzgrl02:** Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Here's what happens next. He he he Thanks for the encouragement to keep going. I can't wait to start posting the new story as well, but I want to wait until I have more of it before I start posting.

**collegegal: **Thank you, thank you. You'll see how being a half shadow will come in handy to Emily soon and down the road. Ooh! Predictions changed. That's what I love about predictions. They change as you read on. I so love the Ice Age line and I nearly laughed myself off the couch when I pictured Sage saying this with a dead serious look on his face.

**Firestorm (chapter 1):** Eek! Glad to see you back on the scene. This is the sequel to "Little Sister, Big Trouble." Sage always has to take on that responsible big brother role. Hope you read more chapters. Being a Ronin can be pretty stressful.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Cooper jumped excitedly at Emily as she sat down on the couch. He was happy to have his companion back home where he could keep a better watch over her. Tom had just disappeared into his room to get Emily's Christmas gift and Cooper didn't like it. The scent didn't feel right yet he tried not to give anything away to his companion.

Cooper was facing Emily who had her back to Tom as he came out of his room. The canine's sharp gaze picked up on how slowly he approached and had his hands behind his back. His gaze narrowed as he carefully stepped a little to the side. The scent was growing stronger.

Emily turned around when she heard him come back into the room.

"I hope you like it," Tom said, pulling his hands out from behind his back.

Emily gasped and Cooper reeled backwards. His companion's flawed[1] friend had brought a…_reptile_ into the house. That would explain everything! Reptiles put him off ease. However, the look of delight on his companion's forced him to press down his repulsion for the other creature.

"_**Thank you, Tom! I love him**_," Emily told her roommate.

Her signing was a little awkward since she could only use one hand while holding the small ball python. The snake was wrapped snugly around her left arm and had its head buried into her stomach as she held it close.

Cooper stepped a little closer to sniff curiously at the serpent. Tom explained to Emily that he had gotten a very good deal on the serpent (after all, he worked in a pet shop), but that had been what he secretly hid behind his back that one night. While the two talked, the serpent moved around to face Cooper. It flicked its tongue at him and Cooper dropped his head with a sneeze.

Cooper growled softly in warning. Emily looked down at him with a warning look in her eyes.

"Cooper, be nice to Simon."

The canine cocked his head to the side as if questioning the name of his new "acquaintance." Apparently Tom, who had read Emily's lips, was wondering the same thing.

"_**Well, he seems like a Simon. I mean it just…seems right**_," Emily explained.

The dark brown and light tan serpent was slender and small, but Tom supposed he did look like a Simon. Cooper snorted. He'd give the serpent a chance, especially considering his human seemed to think it posed no threat to her well-being. Cooper knew this particular snake was neither venomous nor poisonous[2].

"_**Oh! Did I tell you what Elizabeth Ann gave me for Christmas**_?" Emily asked.

"_**No. What**_?" Tom inquired.

"_**A f-u-s-h-i-g-i **_(fushigi)."

Tom frowned at her and spelled the word back to her while trying to sound it out. Emily chuckled lightly but playfully.

"_**It's a hard, glass ball the size of a baseball. It's like those crystal balls they used in the Labyrinth by the Goblin King**_," Emily explained.

"_**Jason Issacs?**_"

Emily shook her head. "_**No, no. He played in Harry Potter. The Goblin King was played by David Bowie**_."

Tom nodded his head as he recalled the last time they had watched The Labyrinth together. The two had broken out in a debate about who would have made the best Goblin King.

/…/

Emily looked over her shoulder from her knelt down position. She felt like there was something off, but she wasn't quite sure what. Perhaps the shadows were starting to speak to her more. However, she had no way of knowing how she would know when they were speaking to her.

She stood up and turned her back to the audience seating. She brought two fingers up to her mouth and whistled.

"What?" called a voice from back stage.

"Try it again!" she shouted.

A few seconds of silence followed by a whoop told her it was working now. She was so wrapped in her thoughts she didn't hear someone approach her from behind. Suddenly, a hand clamped onto the side of her arm.

"Sky?"

Emily reacted without thinking. She twisted the hand backwards by the wrist with her left hand and whipped around to roughly backhand the offending person with her right. Emily dropped the wrist and brought her other hand up to her mouth when she realized who it was.

"Oh! I'm so sorry about that," Emily apologized.

Standing before her dabbing at his now bleeding bottom lip with his finger was the man she had met before Christmas Break. The one who had initially thought she was Elizabeth Ann and had wanted to hear more about her. He let out a small chuckle with a shake of his head.

"I suppose I may have deserved that," he said.

"Maybe. I guess. Just be happy my can of mace isn't on me," Emily laughed.

He shot her a mock glare at that comment. "I was hoping to catch Elizabeth Ann today."

Emily frowned.

"I'm sorry. None of us can actually find her right now and classes start on Wednesday. But Opening Night is Friday night for the play and we'll also be performing Saturday and Sunday. We still have tickets available," she told him.

"Hmm. Then perhaps I _will_ come and see it. Give her my regards, won't you?" he asked.

"Of course. And I'm sorry, but I can't recall your name," Emily said.

The man chuckled again and told her it was okay. He knew that had everything been hectic with the play being postponed.

"My name's Anubis."

"Okay then, Anubis. Can I tell Elizabeth Ann you'll be by some time?"

"Of course."

/…/

"Do you know why he wants to meet me so badly?"

Emily and Elizabeth Ann were pulling into a parking space in Elizabeth Ann's car. Elizabeth Ann parked the car and they both climbed out. Elizabeth Ann was dressed in a khaki colored shirt with a collar, black pants, black dress shoes, and a half apron tied around her waist. Emily was dressed in an old pair of jeans, a long t-shirt, and a backwards ball cap with her long hair tied in a ponytail. She had an old bandana sticking out a back pocket of her jeans.

"I haven't the foggiest idea. He never said. Could be from another college, I guess," Emily replied.

Elizabeth Ann nodded her head slowly. "I guess. I hope he does come by. Then I could meet him and see what he wants."

Emily nodded in agreement. He seemed like a nice enough guy and she still felt a little bad about striking him. They walked up to a new coffee shop known as A Cup Above. It was a new coffee shop run by two Pineview alumni. Tonight was an open invitation to the Pineview staff only before the Grand Opening next week.

They entered to find the place already bustling. Elizabeth Ann walked off to sign in and Emily walked over to a wall that was halfway painted. The section around it had cones around it and a warning sign that painting was in process. There were scented wallflowers nearby to keep the scent of paint down.

It was a joint project between her and another student, Seth, at the local community college. The Pineview alumni had approached both her and Seth to ask them to contribute their artistic skills. Seth had completed his half and now it was Emily's turn. She had already done a light pencil sketch, so now all that was left to do was paint the intricate details.

There were a few professors that were sitting by listening to soft classical music. Emily organized her brushes and paint before deciding to begin at the bottom. This way, she would have fewer problems with the paint running down the wall. Emily worked slowly with the hope that a certain counselor would stop by tonight. She had so much to tell him.

She had just started painting some of the summer leaves when she heard someone stop to stand beside her.

"It's a marvelous piece of work," a familiar voice complimented her.

She giggled as she looked up into Samuel's smiling face. She laid her paints down and stood up to greet him with a firm handshake.

"I was hoping you would stop by. I have a lot to talk to you about," she said.

Samuel gave her a sad smile. "I have something to discuss with you, as well. Let me treat you to a drink."

Emily frowned, but took him up on his offer. Once they got their hot drinks, the two sat down at a table near the partly finished painting.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I'm going to be away for a few months. I won't be back until close to the end of the semester," Samuel told her.

"What? Why?" Emily asked.

Samuel explained that he was going to be touring different colleges across the nation on a panel of college counselors. There had been a last minute drop-out of one of the counselors and he had been asked to fill-in. He would stay in touch with her via email and would be glad to transfer her meetings to another good counselor.

"I think actually that I'm going to be okay now," Emily said.

Dr. Samuel Walker frowned. Emily scooted her chair back to go retrieve her photos from her backpack. He silently gasped when she handed him the photos.

"My father's old friend turned up and he told me everything. It turns out he's my Godfather. He answered a lot of questions I had. I feel like a piece puzzle fell into place. A piece I didn't even know was missing," Emily explained.

Samuel nodded. "I understand. And I see you have your art as an outlet, as well. Would you care to tell me about what you're working on?"

Samuel listened intently as Emily explained her and Seth's drawing of the four seasons. He felt now was not the time to push to ask the young woman about how she had been dealing with the abduction.

/…/

"Are you sure she doesn't suspect a thing?"

Anubis grumbled something too low for his ears while washing his hands. He turned around as he grabbed up a towel to dry them off.

"How many times do you plan to ask me that?" he replied.

"Just answer him. It'll shut him up quicker," Dais said, sitting opposite Sekhmet over a chess board.

Anubis shot him an annoyed look before shifting his gaze back to the Warlord of Corruption.

"She doesn't suspect anything. If she did, this place would be swarming with the ronin whelps," Anubis replied.

Cale smirked. This _was_ true.

"Good. Then she'll never know what hit her," Cale said.

Anubis chuckled as he walked over to watch Dais and Sekhmet's chess game. Sekhmet was losing. No big surprise there. The only one who ever stood a chance against Dais in chess was Anubis.

[Bishop to D3.]

Now it was Dais' turn to shoot his leader a glare as Sekhmet moved his piece.

[You're cheating again. _Go away_.]

Anubis patted the man on the shoulder as he walked away. Dais _hated_ when he tried to help Sekhmet and Cale play against him. He only did it on occasion, just to irk the older warlord. He lowered his voice to a murmur; despite the fact the other two warlords could hear him clear as day.

"The show will be in a few days. She should be there." Narrow gaze. "I'm going alone."

Cale gave him a sharp look as if ready to protest until Sekhmet chimed in.

"Have fun, oh fearless leader."

With his back to the standing pair, Dais chuckled. A book thwacking him in the back of the head quickly shut him up.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

[1] - I believe pets have a strong understanding about those with exceptionalities. I'm not making Cooper seem mean when he thinks of Tom as "flawed" but this is the terminology I felt that best matches with him.

[2] - Not sure if anyone is aware, but venomous and poisonous are two different things. Venomous is injected through the fangs while poisonous is topical like poison ivy.

[3] - This link is to the painting I imagine them putting up on the wall: artsy_four_seasons_posterrf43bf1294c504f58a46a4 6c058edcb71_w66_

**Tigergirl: **So the boys are now wide awake and back at Mia's. It took a flood of ice down their backs to shock them all up off their resting spots. Is that mean? Of course not! Especially with the gift they let White Blaze bring into the house.

**Cat:** MEOW. *scratch, scratch*

**Tigergirl:** White Blaze brought fleas into this apartment and now I've had to leave a message on the vet's answer machine. I would gladly take the day off to care of this problem, but as much as I loathe Tuesdays I need to go to work. Boo.

**Cat: ***darts under the bed* MEOW. *scratch, scratch*

**Tigergirl:** So, I'm going to go de-flea the apartment. Please leave reviews. Thank you!


	25. Chapter 24

**collegegal:** Ha ha If only you knew where he's been this whole time. Lol You'll find out later in the story what he's been up to. Here be your next chapter.

**Vampire Ronin:** *looks at corrections* Oh, pooh. So didn't see that! Lol Thank you. It's okay on the lateness. We've all been busy. Goodness knows I have been between work, participating in two bowling leagues, fighting fleas with the cat, etc. Hope you enjoyed the other chapters after writing your review.

**jrzgrl02:** Keep looking at the clues and see if you can figure out who the next victim is going to be. Hehehe There's a reason why Anubis hasn't shown up before now and you'll gradually learn about it through the chapters. Good suggestion for the guys. Hmm.

Kento: Hey, TG!

Tigergirl: *sweatdrop on back of head* Oh, crap.

Kento: *walks into room with a blue packet of papers in hand* I just read the script for this chapter. Where the Hell are we and why are several parts of this blocked out?

Tigergirl: I am the writer and you do _not_ need to find out what's going on until _**all**_ is revealed.

Kento: *looks around with a sneaky look on his face* I bet you have the uncensored script around here somewhere. *disappears into a room*

Tigergirl: GET BACK HERE! *chases after him*

Cat: Meow.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God."

Emily looked up with a frown as she knelt on the floor sewing up a small tear in an actor's pants leg. Elizabeth Ann was stalking back and forth behind stage, murmuring to herself. This was mildly odd behavior for the usually calm and collected woman. The actor chuckled, making Emily shift her gaze upwards to him.

"She always does this on Opening Night. She'll be fine soon as the curtain goes up and the lights dim," he explained.

"Hmm."

Emily finished fixing the rip and stood up. She started walk past her somewhat hysteric friend but was jerked back abruptly when Elizabeth Ann grabbed her arm.

"Can you go check and see if he's here?"

Emily didn't need to ask who _he_ was. She sighed but nodded her head. She walked over to the wall where the curtain rested against when pulled back. She peeked her head around the corner and quickly scanned the crowd. She finally located Anubis sitting towards the back. Emily returned to her friend's side just as the lights were blinking to indicate the start.

"Back right corner, last row, end seat to aisle," Emily told her.

Elizabeth Ann smiled. "Thanks. It didn't look like he brought flowers, did he?"

Just yesterday Elizabeth Ann had expressed a concern to Emily that Anubis could be a stalker. She had started freaking out, saying what if the man started popping up at all her shows and would show up Opening Night with flowers.

Emily shook her head.

"No. He doesn't look like he has anything with him, aside from whatever's in his pockets," Emily reassured her.

Elizabeth Ann thanked her before the curtain moved to the sides and the show began. During the show, Emily snuck back to the light and sound booth where Hunter was already at work. Emily took her place and kept a careful eye (and ear) out for problems.

The show went off with only a few problems with the mikes on some of the actors, but nothing that a little volume adjustment couldn't fix. The audience seemed to enjoy the show if the amount of applause in between was any indication. By the time the final curtain swept across the stage, the audience were standing and cheering.

/…/

Anubis stood back watching silently as Sky finally emerged from the building with a blonde that looked remarkably like her. Except for the black layers on Sky and slightly shorter stature. The two blondes walked over to him where Elizabeth Ann introduced herself.

"It was a good show," Anubis said, flashing her a charming smile.

Elizabeth Ann blushed while Emily just wanted to gag. She could sense him putting on the charm and she knew her good friend wouldn't fall for it _that_ easily. It was then that she realized she'd forgotten her bag inside the building.

"Ah, damn."

The other two immediately looked at her as she grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry. I left my backpack inside. I'll be right back, Elizabeth Ann," Emily said, before dashing back up the stairs and into the theatre.

Elizabeth Ann shook her head with a chuckle as she turned back to face the charming stranger.

"Sumimasen [sorry]. She can be a little forgetful," Elizabeth Ann said, smiling. "I'm glad you enjoyed the show."

Anubis nodded his head quietly. With the two blondes now separated, he could put the plan into action. He asked her if he would like to go for a drink. To his surprise, she turned down his offer.

"I can't. I'm spending the weekend with my friend, you see? And we're just getting into the swing of classes. If you don't mind waiting, I'm free next weekend," she offered with an apologetic smile.

Anubis bowed his head to her. "Of course. Then I suppose I'll see you next weekend."

"Next weekend, it is."

Elizabeth Ann turned bright red when he kissed the back of her hand as a way of farewell. Emily, who had just appeared at the top of the stairs, turned her and gagged while pointing her finger in her mouth.

/_Eww! Just open a door for her or give her a carnation._/

Emily waited until he had walked away to jog over to her friend. Elizabeth Ann reached over and wiped off the back of her hand on Emily's jacket. Emily whacked her on the side of her arm.

"Keep his germs to yourself," Emily said with a mock glare.

The two laughed as they linked arms and walked down the lit sidewalk to the front of the school. Even though Emily and Tom's apartment was nearby, Tom had insisted he pick them up so they wouldn't have to walk there in the dark. Just as they arrived at the main building, he pulled up in his car and honked for them. The two ran to jump into the car before he started to hold up traffic on the two-way road.

"_**How was the show?**_" Tom asked, one hand off the wheel to sign.

Elizabeth Ann sat in back trying to calm her frayed nerves. Emily had warned her that some Deaf people like Tom liked to sign while driving which, for the driver, meant taking a hand off the wheel.

"_**It was fine. They'll have an interpreter for tomorrow's show. You're still coming, right?**_" Emily asked.

Tom nodded as he placed his hand back on the wheel so he could reach out with his other hand and press the code into the key pad. The gate beeped three times and swung open slowly. Elizabeth Ann continued to watch them silently as Tom pulled the car in, around a bend, and into a parking space.

The trio climbed out of the car and walked up to the stairs. They laughed when they looked up to find Cooper sitting at the top of the stairs waiting for them.

"_**My little escape artist**_," Emily murmured to Elizabeth Ann.

They trudged up the stairs while Cooper moved aside so they could get to the apartment door. Cooper rubbed up against both the girls as they walked on either side of him.

"He's such a handsome boy," Elizabeth Ann said, scratching him behind the ears.

Emily swore she saw that dog smiling at her as her best friend loved on him. Once Tom unlocked the door, the group moved into the apartment. Tom excused himself from the two girls, explaining through Emily (his hearing aid battery needed replacing again) that he needed to work on a paper. The two girls and Cooper disappeared into Emily's room where they collapsed on their respective beds.

Emily had laid out a twin sized cot with sheets in a corner of her room for Elizabeth Ann to sleep on. Elizabeth Ann sat on the cot with her back against the wall and legs stretched out. Emily laid down on her stomach facing towards her friend and Cooper laid perpendicular to her with his head resting on the center of her back.

"So did you get a chance to look through that ASL book I leant you?" Emily asked.

Elizabeth Ann nodded.

"I did. Domo arigato [Thank you very much]. By the way, you didn't tell me what classes you're taking this semester?" Elizabeth Ann hinted.

"I have English 102, Mathematics for the Liberal Arts I, Introductory to Education, Life Science and Lab, and Drawing and Composition I," Emily answered.

"Oh! And I'm also taking the sign language placement tests on Tuesday. It will determine what level ASL class will be good for me," Emily added.

Elizabeth Ann nodded. She had remembered Emily mentioning that a few days ago. She also noticed that girl had redone the black in her layers so it didn't look faded anymore. Her gaze, however, fell on the finger-cut gloves she wore. Elizabeth Ann was curious about why her younger friend always wore them, but had never asked her about it.

/_I can understand wearing them around outside, but she __**always**__ seems to be wearing them._/

"What are your classes, Elizabeth Ann?"

She closed her eyes to think for a moment before rattling off a few Sophomore-level courses and one Junior-level course. As she was talking to her friend, Elizabeth Ann noticed Emily's necklace for the first time. The necklace was a unique design and she complimented her friend on her necklace. Emily's hand shot up to her neck where she tucked the necklace gently back under her shirt.

"Thanks. It was my father's," Emily replied.

"Biological or adopted?" Elizabeth Ann asked.

"Biological."

"Ah."

The rest of their evening was spent chatting about different things and Elizabeth Ann reviewing the signs she had learned so far. Emily only corrected two or three signs. They stayed up late into the night before exhaustion finally set in and they retired for the night.

/…/

Simon curled around Emily's arm contently as she walked around the kitchen taking care of small things. Cooper was out on a walk with Tom and Elizabeth Ann was at church. Emily had discovered yesterday that she didn't need to worry about feeding Simon; Cooper was bringing "little gifts" back for the old serpent to keep himself full.

Emily walked over to the hall closet and looked up where all the board games were kept. She tried thinking about which games her and Elizabeth Ann would enjoy playing after she returned from church.

_listen_

Emily slowly crept backwards out of the closet and glanced around. A weird sensation had suddenly come over her. It was like a voice was talking to her, but it felt more like a second inner voice than an outside source. Looking down, she noticed the markings had reappeared on her arms and were glowing very lightly. Instantly, she knew this "inner voice" must belong to the shadows around her. Simon seemed unaffected by the markings and voice.

_caution, listen_

_follow_

Emily felt the shadow of various items in the apartment guide her through the living room and to the desk in the solarium. She felt drawn to a bunch of papers laid out on the desk. The markings dimmed when she picked up the papers. The papers were the reports given to her by her Sociology professor, the ones on the attacks on college females.

_focus, remember_

"Focus on what? They had _some_ similarities, I guess. But no one's been attacked since before Christmas break," she mumbled.

_remember_

Emily shook her head. It was going to take time before she could understand the spiritual shadows[1]. She couldn't grasp what it was they were trying to get her to remember. The markings stopped glowing and seeped back into her arms to reveal bare[2] arms again. Her eyes glanced over the papers again just to look at the names. Susan, Emeline, and Elizabeth. Hmm.

Nothing really stood out to her and the spiritual shadows had quieted now. She put it off as the spirits just testing out communicating to her. Or that milk she drank this morning really had gone bad.

"Yeah. That sounds about right," Emily murmured,

She decided to put those thoughts on the back burner as she walked into her room and picked up the new bow Rowen had given her for Christmas. The archery group had decided not to meet yesterday, but was gearing up to meet this coming Saturday. She had already tried out the new bow so she couldn't wait to show off to her group of friends.

Emily pulled Simon off her arm and laid him down on her bed. He curled up into a ball with a small flick of his tongue. Emily took the bow and held it up with the string drawn back. She smiled. This Saturday was going to be awesome.

/…/

"Think he'll be able to do this?"

Dais looked up from the book he was reading to regard his fellow warlord.

"Are you _concerned_ about our 'leader'?" Dais taunted.

Cale's gaze threatened to burn a hole through his head.

"_Hardly_. I'm only concerned if he can do this. He missed an opportunity and I'm sick of waiting," Cale told him.

Dais had to resist the urge to roll his eye. They all knew the Warlord of Corruption was not a patient man.

"He didn't miss an opportunity. There were too many mortals around. Besides, you're still pissed he wasn't there when Halo gave you a knot on the back of your head the size of a damn spike."

By now, he was lucky that the other warlord hadn't rammed a dagger through his ribcage. His burning gaze told him exactly how he felt about his words. After a few minutes of silent rage, Cale took a step back and a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he reopened his eyes, the rage was significantly decreased. He smirked.

"That's okay. He completed the mission given to him. Once this is all over, we can move on to the next phase. The mortal world _will_ fall and not even the Inferno armor will stand a chance."

Dais chuckled darkly before returning his gaze to his book.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

[1] - Now, to save us all the confusion, I wanted to clear this up. Emily is half-Shadow and the actual shadows around her (those you can **and** can't see) are going to be known as the spirits or spiritual shadows.

[2] - I can't tell you how many time I type this word and my Spelling & Grammar prompts me to want to change it to "bear." I laugh every time!

Tigergirl: *sitting on the couch* So…*cough*…I hope you enjoyed this…*cough*…chapter. I have to call it a night, though, before Cye shows up and forces me to retire even earlier. I've been sick for the better half of the weekend.

Kento: *pokes his head in the room* Which sucks because Tigergirl went on a date Saturday morning that rocked!

Tigergirl: Get out!

Kento: *ducks out of the room*

Tigergirl: Now that I have him gone and the uncensored script of this chapter well hidden from any ronin eyes, please feel free to leave me a review and let me know what you liked.


	26. Chapter 25

Kento: HELP ME! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!

Tigergirl: *sitting comfortably on the couch, sipping a Wild Cherry Pepsi* Just tell me the truth and I'll shut it off.

Kento: OH, THE HUMANITY! CYE! RYO! ANYONE! HELP!

Tigergirl: I'm going to the bathroom. Be back in a sec. *stands up and leaves the room*

Kento: *notices the readers* Oh, gods! Please help me. Tigergirl tied me down to this chair and is forcing me to watch a marathon of all the Twilight movies! *looks at the bathroom with a panicked look on his face*

Tigergirl: *sound of toilet flushing*

Kento: She's gone nutsy! She thinks I busted the Review button on her story. BUT I DIDN'T!

Tigergirl: *walks out of the bathroom* Ready to confess yet?

Kento: I didn't do it!

Tigergirl: *turns up the volume*

Movie: **Edward: And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.**

**Bella Swan: What a stupid lamb.**

**Edward: What a sick, masochistic lion.**

Kento: OKAY! OKAY! I CONFESS! TURN IT OFF!

Tigergirl: You confess first!

Kento: I went on your computer while you were really sick and I made the computer crash because I had so many things open. BUT…I **DID NOT** break the Review button!

Tigergirl: How else do you explain so many people reading this story yet not a single review?

Kento: *listening to the movie in horror and wanting desperately to cover his ears* I blame Rowen!

Tigergirl: *mutes the television* Excuse me. Explain, please.

Kento: *sobbing now* I called Rowen in to fix it. It only took him a few seconds, but then he was on it for a long time. And then he just suddenly got up, said "Uh oh" and ran out the door!

Tigergirl: O_O I'm going to **hurt** him! *hits the unmute button and dashes out the door*

Kento: NOOOO! Tiger, Tigergirl, TG! Get back here! Turn it off! Turn it down! MUTE IT! **DO SOMETHING!**

Movie: **Bella: Everybody's staring.**

**Edward: Not that guy. No, he just looked.**

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Finally! Saturday had finally arrived. Emily had been with the archery group all morning long before going to lunch with a few of them and studying. Now it was early evening and, with no one else around, Emily was testing her ability to shoot arrows in low to no lighting. So far, she was very good at it.

With the combined power of Halo and her growing shadow power, Emily was able to see the targets just fine. She drew an arrow, pulled the bow back and let it zip through the air. From this distance, she couldn't tell how close it had been to the center. Glancing around, Emily made sure there was no one around.

She closed her eyes and astral projected across the field. She appeared next to the target and saw that she had missed the center by a few inches. Emily removed the arrow and laid it down on the ground. She quietly and smoothly forced her astral body back into her body.

/_I'm getting pretty good at that._/

Emily was lining up a new arrow when she heard it again; the voices of the spiritual shadows.

_not safe_

_hurry_

_danger_

Emily lowered her bow and arrow, turning her head in the direction the spirits was speaking from. It became a concern when she realized the spirits were speaking from the direction of the college. Rather than ignore the voices this time, Emily swept up everything and ran for Tom's car.

It was a wonder she didn't hit someone or get nailed for speeding as she arrived at the school in record timing. She put the car in park and just barely turned off the car before ripping the keys out of the ignition. She leapt from the car and listened for the spirits.

_follow_

_listen_

_search, find_

Emily felt guided towards the theatre where she used her school ID on the scanner. There were a few lights on, but she couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. She figured she wasn't hearing the spirits right until she was walking back through the lobby. In a corner of the room near the door was Elizabeth Ann's bag.

"Elizabeth Ann!" Emily shouted.

When she didn't receive an answer, she whipped out her cell phone and speed dialed her friend's phone. Her eyes shot to the bag when she heard the familiar ringtone coming from it. She hit End Call and started panicking.

/_Elizabeth Ann __**always**__ has her cell phone on her. Something is __**not**__ right_./

Emily snatched up her friend's bag and shot outside. Bringing two fingers to her lips, she let out a high shrill whistle. From out of nowhere, Cooper appeared at her side. Emily knelt down beside him and held out the bag which he started sniffing.

"Find her, boy," she murmured.

Cooper stopped smelling the bag then lifted his head up to sniff at the air. He lurched forward and ran off towards the woods behind the theatre parking lot. Emily dropped Elizabeth Ann's bag and chased after him. She had to call forth her combined ronin power to keep up with the unbelievable speed of her canine companion.

As she followed after Cooper, Emily strongly wished she had her bow and at least one arrow with her.

_summon, call_

_will bring_

Could it be that simple? Emily decided to take a chance and reached out to the dark shadows around her. Passing through to her like dust through the wind, her bow and one of her arrows appeared in her hands. She chased after Cooper with a prayer in her head.

/…/

The body lay on the ground unconscious and the breathing was very ragged. A figure stood over the body with a sneer on their face.

"I thought for sure. _Damn_."

The body let out a shaky, agonizing groan. This caused the standing figure to chuckle with a smirk.

"What a shame, too. You were quite the little actress. What a pity you won't see your friend again," the figure laughed.

He pulled out a small dagger and stood poised over the body. He brought the dagger up, intent on coming down and plunging it in for the final blow, when he was interrupted. A surprising stab of pain sliced through his chest from behind, causing him to drop the dagger beside the body.

The figure jerked out of view behind a tree to take cover. He looked down to see an arrow embedded just a few inches from his heart. He knew he was losing blood pretty fast.

"Cooper, catch the bastard!"

There was a roaring in his ears so loud he only heard the words and didn't recognize the voice. He quickly moved as he heard the growling of what sounded like a wolf hound.

Emily dropped her bow to the ground and knelt by her friend's side. She quickly checked to make sure her friend had a pulse and was breathing. The pulse and breathing was weak, but there. She quickly whipped out her cell phone, prayed for cell phone reception, and dialed 9-1-1.

She nearly fainted with relief when the phone began ringing.

"This is the 9-1-1 operator speaking. Where is your emergency?" asked a young, male voice.

"Hello! I'm five miles out in the woods behind Pineview College's auditorium. My friend's been attacked. She's bleeding very badly, her breathing's weak and her pulse is really slow."

"Okay. Is she conscious?"

Emily called her friend's name a few times and was relieved when her friend's eyes blinked open.

"Yes, she's conscious."

"Good. Don't move her. I am connecting the ambulance to the GPS in your cell phone. Hang up, but leave the phone _on_."

"Okay. Tell the paramedics my trained canine will be at the edge of the woods and guide them."

"Good, good! I will let them know."

Emily quickly took off her jacket and held it down over a large cut on her friend's leg where the bone was sticking out.

"Cooper!"

Emily's grip tightened when she didn't immediately hear or see signs of her canine.

"Cooper! Coop, I need you!"

The white canine whipped around the tree he had chased the attacker around and immediately rushed to her side. She quickly told the dog to meet the sirens that were coming close and lead the ambulance down the larger path through the trees to the left of where they were. Cooper let out an affirmative bark before disappearing back down the path.

"E—Em—Emi…?"

Emily's gaze flew to her friend's face who was nearly clearly somewhat awake and coherent enough to recognize her.

"Don't speak. You're really hurt. The ambulance is on its way," Emily told her.

Elizabeth Ann let out a loud, painful groan. Emily kept whispering reassurances that the sirens were getting louder and the paramedics would be there soon. It was then that Emily's gaze fell on the dagger lying on the ground beside her friend's leg. It looked like something she would have found in the dyn-! No! She couldn't think about that right now.

Since it didn't look like it had been used, Emily waved a hand across the air over the blade. This allowed the spiritual shadows to whisk the blade to a concealed spot in her room. The sirens were coming closer and she could see the flashing red lights. She could hear the dust flying up from the dirt path they were following Cooper down.

Emily could feel the shadows shielding the two of them from the attacker and any possible accomplices he had. She couldn't sense if they were still nearby, but she felt it was safe to assume Cooper had effectively scared them off.

She heard the ambulance roll to a stop and the doors of the ambulance opening. Cooper came flying through the trees to Emily's side.

"Over here!" Emily shouted, her voice straining with concern.

Everything seemed to move so fast with the paramedics rushing to Elizabeth Ann's side. Two firefighters hauled Emily to her feet and pulled her away so the paramedics could work. A police officer came over and began to get a report from her. She explained that she hadn't seen the attacker very clearly.

"I could only see it was a tall guy. Maybe a head taller than me. He'll have an arrow sticking out of his arm," Emily said.

"You shot him?" the officer asked, motioning to the bow she held.

"And I imagine my dog bit him, too." She nodded at Elizabeth Ann. "That's one of my best friends."

"Ah. We'll be sure to alert the area hospitals to look out for a man with an arrow in his…arm?" Nod. "Good. If we're lucky, he'll try it."

One of the paramedics tried to check up on her, but she waved him away. She insisted he see to her friend.

"Just take a few deep breaths, mam'. We're doing what we can to stabilize before we load her into the ambulance," he urged her.

Emily wanted nothing more than to throttle the man, but she took his advice and took a few deep breaths. She couldn't see her friend through all the emergency personnel, yet she could hear one asking her questions.

"Bring her here!" yelled one of the paramedics.

The blonde was shocked when the pushy paramedic grabbed her not so gently by the arm and dragged her back over. Once she came within spitting distance of her friend, she realized what they needed for her. The lead paramedic who was checking her over was asking her questions and she could hear friend mumbling in her native tongue.

/_Of course. It shouldn't be a surprise she's lapsing into Japanese._/

"Can you translate?" the lead paramedic asked.

Emily nodded. The lead paramedic nodded back before returning to his questioning.

[[[**Note: Starting here, words in italics between quote marks is Emily translating for Elizabeth Ann.**]]]

"What's your name?" the lead paramedic asked.

"_Elizabeth Ann_."

"What day is today?"

"_It's…it's uh…January nineteenth._"

The lead paramedic nodded as they continued to work on her to stabilize her before hauling her up a group onto a stretcher. They pushed the stretcher into the ambulance and Emily hopped in. Emily whistled for Cooper who jumped up into the ambulance and onto an empty seating space next to Elizabeth Ann's head.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No dog is riding in this!" shouted the lead paramedic as he hopped in the driver seat.

"He's a pet therapy dog, Elizabeth Ann is terrified of hospitals, and I'd like to see you _try_ and throw him out," Emily shot back warningly.

He held his hands up in surrender as the back doors were shut. Emily stood at the end of the stretched, continuously translating for her friend as the paramedic hooked her up to things.

"Elizabeth Ann, how old are you?"

"_Nineteen._"

"When is your birthday?"

"_April…April twenty-first._"

"Okay. Good. Keep talking to us. Where are you from?"

"_Toy…Toyama…Japan. Same…same as Em._"

"Same as your friend here? Okay, good. She's right here and so is…" "Coop. Cooper." "…Cooper."

[[[**Note: End the translation here.**]]]

Elizabeth Ann brought a weak hand up to tangle into the dog's fur. He laid his head down on her shoulder which seemed to soothe her sniffling a little bit as some tears escaped.

The paramedic placed plastic seals with open button snaps on the upper part of her arms and just above her ankles. She hooked up wires to the snaps and an EKG was started. The paramedic took up Elizabeth Ann's other hand and hooked up a loose clamp on the middle finger. The machines started pumping out blood pressure numbers and other important information.

Everything was loud and confusing to Emily, but she tried to keep her focus on her best friend. The questions kept coming and Emily was happy her friend was doing her very best to stay conscious and answer the questions.

Suddenly, the ambulance hit a large bump and Elizabeth Ann let out a scream while clutching her stomach. The paramedic quickly checked on her.

"Oh, goddess! Charlie, don't stop for nothing!"

Emily nearly fell off her feet as she felt the ambulance drive even faster and its siren was deafening now. As opposed to its low sound earlier. Emily looked at the paramedic with a panicked look on her face.

"What's wrong?" she demanded.

"There's internal bleeding. We need to get her to the hospital and into surgery immediately. I need you to answer a few questions for me."

Emily quickly rattled off some pertinent information on her friend's behalf such as her blood type and allergies (thankfully, none were medications).

"Can you get her family on the phone?" the paramedic asked. "There's more information we need."

"Yeah. Yeah. Give me a minute," Emily said, scrambling to yank her phone out of her pocket.

Emily quickly went through the proper channels of calling _very_ long distance to Japan. She was only thankful she had Elizabeth Ann's family's number. As she waited for the phones to connect, she thought about the time difference and looked at her watch. It was 6:30pm here which meant it was 5:30ish in the morning there.

A very sleepy Mrs. Ichihara answered the phone. Emily quickly spoke through the phone in Japanese, explaining the situation in very short terms.

"They need to s-speak you. Hmm? Yes, has to be English. They're the paramedics, mam," Emily explained, switching over to English.

Emily held out her phone to the paramedic as the ambulance slid to a stop, the doors burst open, and she [Emily] moved to the side. The paramedic started talking with Elizabeth Ann's father on the phone. The paramedics pulled the stretcher out and quickly pushed it inside through the double sliding doors.

Throwing the therapy bandana around Cooper's neck, Emily also attached his leash and collar before following in pursuit. They followed the stretcher for long as they could until they reached a point they couldn't go any further. The double doors flapped shut as Elizabeth Ann disappeared out of her sight.

/…/

"It was him. I know it was him," Emily murmured to herself.

She had only seen the attacker from behind and at a distance, but she knew who it had been. She had pushed off the bottom of a tree and launched herself into the air before releasing the arrow. Truthfully, she had lied to the officer. She knew good and well with her aim that she had hit him in the chest with her arrow.

"Did you bite him?" Emily murmured to Cooper.

The white canine seemed to pout and shake his head. Emily muttered a curse.

"That would have been the only time I allowed you to bite someone."

She knew it was that guy. That Anubis character. There was just something off about that man that she couldn't put her finger on. Suddenly a vision of the dagger appeared before her. The vision flashed across a symbol on the hilt of the blade.

I have to see the blade again, but I can't do it here and I'm not leaving Elizabeth Ann, Emily thought.

That left her only one option. Slumping down in her chair with her head resting on her crossed arms, Emily allowed her body to relax and immediately fell into her astral projection.

/…_Astral Projection_…/

Emily's astral body appeared in the center of her room in the apartment. She could hear the television on in the living room, but she ignored it in favor of locating the blade. She found it lying on her pillow. Emily picked up the blade carefully and ran her fingers over the hilt.

There was an odd yet familiar symbol carved into the hilt. Suddenly, she fell into a series of vision-like memories.

**/The dynasty./**

**/Sparring with Sekhmet and hitting a wall. Hard./**

**/A cloth with a foul odor thrown over her mouth. Falling into unconsciousness./**

**/Someone carrying her through the hallway. Passing a doorway. A doorway with a symbol./**

Emily silently gasped. That symbol. That symbol had been on one of the doors where the warlords had lived in the dynasty. It was one of the few doors she had never been dragged in. She knew it hadn't been Cale's room because his room had been opposite that door.

She shivered in disgust while making a face. There was no reason on God's green Earth she should know where _that_ despicable man's room was. Now she was starting to get confused. Anubis wasn't a warlord. She had never seen him with the other warlords, the ronins had never mentioned him, and the symbols could just be a coincidence. A very weird coincidence.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the television.

"_We need to deliver the profile._"

Emily frowned. She snuck her head carefully around the corner while inching her door open. Luckily, she discovered her roommate out old on the couch. It appeared he was watching one of those mystery detective movies like Law and Order.

"_This unsub is a male in his late 30's. We believe him to be a narcissist with obsessive compulsive behavior. Now, the girls he is targeting are all young with blonde hair and blue eyes…_"

Emily zoned out when she heard the description. All the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together. The women being attacked. Anubis showing up. Him showing interest in Elizabeth Ann; a woman who looked almost exactly like her.

"Son of a bitch!"

Tom jerked up right just moments after Emily's astral body disappeared.

/…_End of Astral Projection_…/

Emily came back into her body with more curses filtering through. She successively calmed herself down when a nurse came by to inform her that her friend would be in surgery for a while.

"I'm not leaving. Please let me know when I can see her," Emily told her.

"Of course," the nurse replied.

Emily knew if she was going to figure out the mystery that was Anubis she had to talk to the ronins and it couldn't wait. She moved over to one of the couches in the waiting room and lay down. Cooper laid on the ground beside her.

She knew she was going to fall into a deep sleep for how far she was about to astral project her body. She warned Cooper in a quiet whisper to watch over her. Cooper snorted. As if he were going anywhere.

/…_Astral Projection_…/

Emily's astral body materialized into the middle of Mia's living room. It scared the life out of Kento who yelped and fell backwards off the coffee table he'd been perched on.

"Emily!" he exclaimed.

Cye came rushing out of the kitchen at his friend's exclamation. He looked as equally surprised to see the blonde.

"Is everyone home?" she asked.

Cye frowned as he stepped closer. It was then that Emily noticed him pulling off a pair of potholders.

"What's happened?" Cye asked, clearly understanding something was wrong.

Kento looked back and forth between the two. Emily shook her head and repeated her question a little more forcefully. Cye released a deep sigh, but nodded.

"Ryo's outside chopping wood and Sage is upstairs showering. I think Rowen is probably still sleeping," Cye answered.

"I need them. I need all of you. We need to talk," Emily said in a dead serious tone.

Kento immediately jumped up to his feet. "I'll get Sage and Rowen."

Kento rushed past Cye to jog up the stairs. Cye nodded his head to him, even after he had already passed him and had his back to him.

"I'll get Ryo."

There were similar looks of confusion from the other three ronins when they were interrupted in what they were doing. They were even more confused to see Emily standing in the living room. She waved off Rowen's compliment that she was able to astral project herself at such a distant.

"I have to ask you all something and I need you to be honest with me. _Deathly _honest," Emily told them.

"Go ahead, Em," Rowen answered.

The others nodded in agreement. She stood in the center of the living room looking at all of them as they sat on the couch and armchairs. She took a deep breath and released it before speaking.

"How many warlords did Talpa have?" Emily asked.

Out of all the questions they had expected her to ask that was certainly not one of them. They all had different thoughts running through their heads.

/_This is a trick question, right?_/ Rowen.

/_What reason would she have for asking us that?_/ Cye.

/_She's kidding…right?_/ Kento.

/_And she wants to know this…why?_/ Ryo.

It was Sage who voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Why ask a question you already know the answer to?" he asked, standing up from his chair to step closer to her.

Emily turned her head towards her brother but kept her gaze downwards to the ground. Her eyes flicked from side to side as she stuck her tongue out to wet her lips. She tried to gather her thoughts before speaking.

"Because we never talked about it when we all know we should have." Emily glanced up at all of them before leaving her gaze on Sage. "Because I'm not sure I _do_ know how many there are."

Only Rowen noticed Emily's use of the present tense when it should have been past tense. He kept his mind on high alert as he leaned forward. He shared a look with his best friend before Sage looked at the others.

[Answer her.]

They all nodded their heads quietly. Emily could instantly tell they were using their armor mind link to have a silent conversation between themselves first. Sage turned back to his sister and answered her.

"Four."

Emily gasped with a hand flying up to partially cover her mouth. Sage continued on, watching as his sister's face went ashen.

"There were four warlords."

Emily murmured something too quiet for any of them to hear. Suddenly, something flashed across her face and before any of them could blink she moved. It was their turn to gasp when Emily slapped her brother hard across the face. He stood there stunned with his head still turned.

Did my sister just slap me, he pondered.

Surely he had to be mistaken. But the burning heat on his cheek and the fiery gaze in Emily's eyes said otherwise. He turned his head back to face her just as she began speaking again.

"We _never_ talked about it and by God's grace, _you_ as my big brother, should have _made me_ talk," she spat at him angrily.

This time, he was prepared for the slap and caught his sister by the wrist. The others stayed silent as they listened in horror as Emily let loose like an American sailor. She cursed worse than all of them combined as she mixed in between English, Japanese, a little bit of ASL (with her free hand), and a little Spanish.

"Enough!" Sage said in a clear, loud voice.

Emily grew silent, but she didn't appear cowed in any way. She was watching him carefully and he was watching her. They locked gazes.

"You're right."

Everyone looked shocked, even Emily. It seemed that none of them were expecting the blonde ronin to agree with his baby sister.

"I should have made you talk and I was wrong not to. As strong as you believe yourself to be and we all know you to be, you went through a traumatizing moment in your life. I should have made you talk to me, Rowen, one of us, _somebody_. I know it's been two years since it happened, but you had such horrible nightmares that I didn't want you to relive it."

He spoke so quietly to Emily that the others almost didn't hear him.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at _them_," Emily answered him, putting particular emphasis on them.

Everyone knew which them Emily was referring to. Finally, Cye spoke up, breaking the undivided attention of the two blonde siblings.

"You didn't know there were four, did you?"

Everyone's gaze snapped to Cye then jerked back to Emily. Slowly, she shook her head.

"I only ever saw the three. None of you ever said anything about a fourth and the warlords never gave away even the slightest hint that there was another. What's his name? His armor?" Emily questioned.

"His name was Anubis. He had the Armor of Cruelty," Kento answered.

"Son of a bit-mpfh!"

Sage had anticipated the cursing and, using his grip on his sister's wrist, had slapped her hand over her own mouth to muffle it. It took several more moments for both Sage and Rowen to calm the irate blonde.

"Why should this bother you? They're dead."

"No, they're not."

Stunned silence filled the living room. Rowen's grip on her shoulder and Sage's grip on her wrist both tightened slightly. Ryo leaned forward with a serious look on his face.

"I think you need to back-up a minute and explain what's going on."

/…/

Emily took a shaky breath as she blinked her eyes open and sat up on the couch. That had been the most tiring astral projection of her life. She had explained everything to the ronins and now they were all caught up with what was going on.

Emily had told them about the attack on Elizabeth Ann and she had told them about making the connection between the attack on her and the other attacks. Thankfully, Sage had already told them about the attacks on women that Emily's Sociology professor had been following. They had been a little doubtful until Emily had told them about the mystery stranger who had been interested in Elizabeth Ann.

They were doubtful that the man, despite introducing himself as Anubis, was actually the Warlord of Cruelty. Except the evidence was stacked against them and her description of the man fit him to a tee.

Emily nearly flew up to the ceiling when a hand clamped down her shoulder. Standing there was the nurse from before.

"Your friend's out of surgery. You can come up and see her now," the nurse told her.

"Thank you," Emily croaked weakly, standing.

She started moving away, but Cooper remained standing where he was. She looked at him confused. He let out a small whine while looking over his shoulder. She instantly understood what he was trying to tell her.

"Can't you hold it? I really want to see her, Coop," she told him.

The nurse suggested since she was off-duty now that she could take Cooper out for Emily and bring her companion up to her.

"Would you? That's really wonderful of you. Cooper's really well behaved," Emily said as she gladly handed her the leash.

"I can tell. You friend's in room 320. You can use the elevator over there."

Everything went by in a blur as Emily crossed the lobby, rode the elevator, and exited the elevator on the third floor. She walked down the hallway to the end where the corner room was marked as 320. She took a few deep breaths to try and settle her pounding heart. She was preparing herself to see her friend in very horrible shape.

However, as she came quietly into the room nothing could have prepared her for the sight she came across. Emily leaned on the door frame gripping it tightly with her hand.

"What are you doing here?"

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

**Please let me reviews. I live on reviews! Plus I'll release Kento from his "torture."**

Kento: *in the background* MERCY!


	27. Chapter 26

**RedAppleAvalon:** Thank you so much! I hope you continue reading.

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! Here is my update and you probably won't see the next one until after next week. I'm on Spring Break next week and I want to be far away from my doctors. They've been trying to figure out what the lesions on my liver are. My poor arm has seen a needle more times in the last month than it has in years!**

**PLEASSSSSSE keep up the reviews! It makes my day to read your thoughts on my thoughts.**

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"What are you doing here?"

Emily was shocked with the familiar person who was sitting at Elizabeth Ann's side. The person turned at her voice to reveal herself as Kaori. The woman looked equally surprised, as though not expecting anyone to catch her there. She stood up and took a few steps away from the hospital bed.

"I apologize if I frightened you. I merely wanted to see the girl to make sure she was okay," Kaori explained.

Unknown to the other, older woman, Emily gathered the shadows around behind her. This would, hopefully, prevent the woman from getting out and others from disturbing them.

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm surprised to see _you_ period. Do you not recognize me?" Emily asked, taking a very careful step closer.

Kaori stepped into Emily's personal space, looking directly into Emily's eyes as if searching for something. She brought a hand up to move a strand of hair out of Emily's face. She ran light fingertips over the younger woman's cheek before pulling her hand back with a gasp.

"My, how you've grown! Be it only two years since I last seen you? Much has changed in you, young one," she murmured.

Without breaking her gaze, Emily leaned back and closed the door so there was only a crack in the door. She knew the nurse would be coming up soon with Cooper.

"Changed so much that the warlords can't recognize me by sight only?" Emily hinted.

With a sad look on her face, Kaori nodded. The older woman proceeded to confirm Emily's earlier suspicions; the attacks on the women had been the warlords. She wasn't surprised to find out that the warlords had been searching for you.

"But why here in the States?" Emily asked.

"They overheard one of your sisters talking to a friend when they resurfaced last June." What?! "They knew you had come here, but not precisely where you were."

Emily fumed. She had unknowingly put a lot of other mortals in danger. Thank the Shadows they hadn't attacked more people since apparently following her to the States.

"What does Talpa want with me _now_?"

"Nothing. He's dead."

"Excuse me?"

Kaori shocked her by explaining that Talpa had been (thankfully) dead for the last two years. Emily was very pleased by this, since it had taken the added strength from her to aid Ryo in completing this task.

"Then how did the warlords survive? Ryo got us out of there before the whole place fell apart. They couldn't have survived. _You_ couldn't have survived," Emily hissed.

She tried to keep her voice low and quiet so as not to disturb Elizabeth Ann. This was really not the place to be having this conversation, but her friend was sleeping and the warlords could be anywhere.

"I was down at a market gathering fresh vegetables when everything happened. Master Anubis was returning from the mission given to him by Master Talpa. He found the place in ruins, but he was able to find the other warlords. It took some time for them to heal, but it took almost as long for them to reopen the link from the Nether Realm to the Mortal Realm," Kaori explained.

Emily had a million different questions and immediately started firing them off.

"What was the mission Anubis was on? Are the warlords still after the armors, even though Talpa is dead? Why are they after me?"

Kaori held up her hands to calm the younger female.

"I shouldn't even be talking to you. They will be angry with me for doing so. However, I will answer your questions since they came so close to killing your friend."

Emily had started to protest, but Kaori's last thought had stopped her from interrupting.

"I don't know the details of Anubis' mission, but I do know he succeeded in whatever it was. I don't think the warlords are after the ronin armors. But I can't be sure they're _not_ after them. And you? Vengeance is on their mind," Kaori told her.

Kaori's voice suddenly dropped and Emily could detect a strain on controlling her emotions. She could hear the telltale clicking of Cooper's nails out in the hallway yet she kept her attention focused solely on the older woman.

"You must take great caution. The warlords intend to _kill_ you. Then they plan to use one of the ronins for something. The youngest ronin, I think."

Oh, crap. That meant things didn't bode well for Cye. Actually, things didn't bode well for Emily. Emily would have to tell the ronins all about what she had discovered now. Her train of thought was interrupted by a gentle tapping on the door. The nurse edged her way into the room and held the leash out to Emily.

"Cooper was a perfectly good boy," the nurse said as Cooper pushed his way by to enter the room.

"Thank you for taking him out," Emily replied.

The nurse bid her a sweet goodbye before departing. Emily turned back around while unsnapping Cooper's leash. Kaori had stepped back with a very surprised look on her face. She was now pale with wide eyes. Her eyes were locked into Cooper who had a guarded look on his face. Emily tapped him on the top of the head.

"Behave yourself," Emily warned.

This seemed to snap Kaori out of her daze. She watched as Emily moved around her with Cooper and lifted the dog up to lay him down on the hospital bed. He curled up next to Elizabeth Ann but kept his head turned towards the two standing and his eyes open.

"I don't think I have to worry now," Kaori said out of the blue.

Scratching behind Cooper's ears, Emily turned around to regard the Nether Realm native.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked confused.

Kaori raised an eyebrow while gesturing towards the bed. "Do you not know what…_he_ is?"

It was Emily's turn to raise her eyebrows. Kaori was the first one to recognize Cooper and apparently not as a particular dog breed.

"I know he is very special to me. But I would like you to tell me what you know about him," Emily answered.

"Daemon spiritum lupus."

Emily frowned. She recognized the word lupus for wolf and the language as that of being Latin. (Note: You didn't date Rowen for so long and not recognize a few languages.)

"What does that mean in English?" Emily inquired.

"It translates to demon ghost wolf. This…uh…Cooper?…is a native creature of the Nether Realm. I'm shocked to find him here. There are very few of him left," Kaori answered.

Emily turned her head to look down at Cooper who had raised his eyebrows while looking up at Emily.

"Is that true, you ornery thing?" Emily said in a teasing tone.

Cooper let out a big sigh-whine before lifting his head to nod. Emily chuckled quietly while patting the top of his head.

"Should have known."

Emily turned back around to Kaori with a question on her lips. It died there when she found the older woman was no longer in the room. Emily knew she wouldn't tell the warlords about running into the real target, however, she also knew the warlords would stick around.

/_Kaori would have told me if I had killed Anubis. I'm sure I've only gravely injured him temporarily._/

Emily sighed. For now, she would throw them from her mind. It was time to tend to her best friend. Emily sat down in a chair beside the bed and reached over to grasp her best friend's hand. She wasn't going anywhere until after Elizabeth Ann was conscious and was _shooing_ her away.

/…/

[Thanks for letting us know, Emily.]

[No problem.]

Sage closed off the mental link to his sister and opened his eyes to regard his friends. They were all sitting around the kitchen table with empty plates. Emily had contacted her brother through their mental link to update them further on what had happened at the hospital. Now he had just finished explaining it to them.

"Well, it's kind of obvious why they're after Emily. But then why would they want to come after me?" Cye wondered out loud.

Emily hadn't held anything back, including Kaori's comment of the warlords' second target. None of them had an answer for him.

"Don't you worry, Cye. They ain't comin' near my buddy," Kento said, throwing an arm around his shoulders to give him a tight side hug.

The youngest ronin gave a small chuckle before standing to clear the table. Kento stood up to help him and brought the plates over to the sink.

"We can't go to her, Sage."

Sage snapped his head to the side. Rowen was staring at him with a dead set serious look on his face. Ryo leaned back in his seat with a steady eye on the two friends. He was ready to interfere should the two need breaking up.

"You know how Emily is. _If_ she wants our help, she'll ask for it. Besides, we're no use to her when we're thirteen hours away. If _or_ when they discover who she is and if or when they decide to attack, Emily will have to defend herself," Rowen told him.

Sage remained silent. He knew once Rowen started on a speech, he needed to get through all of it. Plus, despite his frustration, he knew he needed to hear all this. It would make him feel at least a little better about abandoning his sister to the enemy.

"Emily's not defenseless. You of all people should know this and remember it well. She has the power of the armors, she's trained with us for the last two years, and now she has the added power of being half-Shadow. Plus, Emily has Cooper. That dog…uh…spirit…grr! Whatever the Hell he is, Cooper's not about to let anyone, _especially_ the warlords, within spitting distance of her."

Over by the sink, Kento let out a snort while stifling his laughter. Cye, who was drying plates beside him, shoved an elbow into his gut. Sage relaxed marginally but Rowen knew his best friend was still quite upset. However, he also knew what they all knew; Emily was essentially on her own.

/…/

He finished inspecting the wound and leaned back up to sit up. Cale and Sekhmet were over across the room murmuring quietly to themselves while looking over a map. Dais cleaned the wound while ignoring the biting curses coming from the younger warlord. He made the man stay on his side to avoid irritating both sides of the wound.

"Give it a day," Dais murmured to him.

Anubis muttered another curse, but allowed his body to relax and fall asleep. Dais shook his head before standing. He walked over to join the other two. On his way, he picked up the pieces of the arrow they had pulled out of Anubis.

The arrow was of average build yet it had sliced into the warlord's chest easily. Although the arrow was strong enough to pierce through his shirt and skin, had Anubis been wearing his subarmor he wouldn't have been injured at all. Truth of the matter was that whoever had launched the arrow had very good aim. They had only been an inch or two off from striking him in the heart.

Sekhmet glanced over at him as he stopped to stand on the other side of Cale.

"Give him a day and he'll be fine," Dais reported.

Cale snorted. He thought the other warlord had been foolish not to have been wearing his subarmor and to have let his guard down so recklessly. Surprisingly, Dais had come to his defense in reminding the scarred warlord that he had had no reason to be so cautious around the mortals. Dais glanced down at the large map of the entire country.

All over the map were big, red circles. They were spaced out and in random locations. Dais knew the dots represented dynasty gates that had popped up. The only mortals that would be able to see them were the ronins. The gates had started appearing randomly, thus allowing them to move around more freely. One had recently appeared nearby, but they weren't sure where it was exactly.

"Could have been a hunter," Dais added.

Cale raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"It was someone with obvious archery experience and Anubis swore a huge dog chased after him just before he came back here. Sounds like a mortal hunting for something to me," Dais explained.

"Hmm."

/…/

Sekhmet chewed on his breakfast quietly while glancing about the room. He was in a room full of mortals and they had not a clue how much danger they were in. He could easily spread a poison through the air and have them all choking as they each took the smallest of breaths. It made him feel strong to hold such power over mortals.

He took a few more bites of his breakfast and stood up. On his way out the door he spotted a newspaper which he grabbed up. Sekhmet opened it and flipped through the pages as he walked through the lobby. He walked onto an elevator and hit the third floor button. The doors closed with a quiet ding.

He flipped to a next page and a flyer advertisement covering half the page caught his eye. He smirked.

"Perfect."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

**Don't forget to write those reviews! **


	28. Chapter 27

**Vampire Ronin:** What can I say? It's college all over again. I can go over my writing about a hundred times, but the minute I print it out I catch an error on the second line. Well, I swear I went over this one very carefully. As for Anubis and The Ancient One, this way was one of two ways I was thinking of turning the story. Might reveal at the end my original thoughts on these two characters. Sorry about the time difference confusion between Mortal and Nether Realm. I tried explaining in the story that time passes differently in the Nether Realm. Apparently, I didn't succeed with that. Oh well, I guess.

As for the boys' ages, I'm not surprised I did an OOPS. You'd be surprised how many stories I've come across that peg Cye and Ryo in the youngest category with Sage and Rowen as oldest. I'm going to put this off as Emily not realizing Cye isn't the youngest and because Emily told the ronins it was Cye they don't know Kaori said the youngest. Glad you love my sense of humor in here. My liver is better. After getting a CT & MRI, the lesions on the liver turned out to be benign so everything is golden for now. Feeling much much better.

**jrzgrl02:** It's okay. TG understands. Oh, you can be sure her confrontation with any warlord is going to be a very…memorable moment. Glad you're still enjoying the story and still reviewing. Keep on reading.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Tom allowed his camera to autofocus before snapping a series of continuous shots. The subject in this particular photograph was one of the archers. Tom started snapping when the archer raised his bow with an arrow, lined his shot up, and released the arrow. Tom knew those shots would look awesome on the computer later when he uploaded them.

He turned to look around for his high-spirited roommate and spotted her instantly. She was standing nearby with three other team members from her archery group. Like some of the other groups there, they wore a uniform of sorts so their team could be easily spotted. Each member wore a dark red hoodie with the school insignia on it, black jeans, and sneakers. With a small chilly breeze blowing, all four of them wore their hoods up. As "co-captain" of their little group, Emily wore a loose red, black, and silver bandana around her neck.

At the moment, she was on the phone with someone. From this distance, Tom couldn't even catch a few snippets of words via lipreading. Tom let his camera heavily rest against his chest while he waved at Emily to get her attention. She finally looked over in his direction and shot him a confused look.

"**What?**" Emily signed, using the hand that wasn't holding her phone.

"**Who?**" Tom asked, referring to the person on the other line.

Emily shifted her hand into an E handshape (four fingers curled up above the thumb stretched out in front of the middle of the palm). She brought it up to her shoulder with palm facing forward and brought it out. This was Elizabeth Ann's name sign. Tom had actually been the one to give it to her. He had given her the name sign which resembled the sign for strong/strength.

She _is_ strong to be pulling through okay after the attack, he thought.

"**Tell her I plan to visit after I'm done here,**" Tom signed.

He could tell by the look on her face that with the distance Emily had to strain to read every one of his signs. Emily nodded her head before turning her attention back to her phone. Tom smiled and went back to snapping photographs of some of the competitors. Tom knew Emily and her group wouldn't be competing until after lunch; he was holding their equipment in his car, after all.

Tom took a few more photographs before he realized that extra-large cup of Dr. Pepper was finally having an effect on him. He had to go find the bathroom. _Now._ However, he knew that the only bathrooms here were port-o-potties and under no circumstances was he taking his camera and bag in one of those.

Seeing that his roommate was off the phone, Tom flagged Emily down. Shaking her head at his antics, Emily excused herself from her friends and teammates before jogging over to him.

"_**I need to go to the bathroom. Please take care of my camera and take pictures of the people**_," Tom told her, pulling the camera off from around his neck and wrapping the strap over her head.

"_**Fine. But why do you want pictures of the people?**_" Emily asked, slightly confused.

"_**I want to take a variety of pictures for the newspaper. I just took some photos of the crowd over there, but I would like you to go through them again for me. I took it off continuous shots. You remember how to work my camera?**_"

Before Christmas, Tom had taken Emily out on a nature walk and had taught her how to use his camera. He had given her a few tips and most her photos had turned out nice. Dropping his bag beside Emily, Tom quickly signed thank you before dashing off in the directions of the tall, bright blue containers.

Emily shook her head again as she took the camera in her hands and brought it up. She zoomed in to get good close-up shots of the people in the crowd. She let the camera auto-focus before snapping photos of the crowd starting from the left and going to the right.

With her best friend having to be in the hospital for another few days, it had taken a considerable amount of convincing for Emily to go to the 22nd Annual Festival of Games. It was held every year at the local park and was a very popular event. There were many game competitions such as horseshoes, shooting baskets and archery. Many college groups from around the area sent their archery teams to compete.

Emily wasn't competing this time around. She was actually just going to be participating in an exhibition late that afternoon. The main reason she was there for such a length of time was Elizabeth Ann had told her she would bar her from her hospital room for the entire weekend if she didn't go. Since Tom was taking a while, Emily decided to change the dial on the camera back to sports (continuous shots).

She waited for the next archer to come up and started snapping soon as the first arrow was raised. She slowly followed the arrow by moving the camera from the archer to the target. By the time she was done, Tom had returned to her side and was taking the camera from her. Emily reminded him what time her exhibition would be at before jogging over to rejoin her teammates.

The three teammates were all males with Emily being the only female on the entire team. One familiar face was Max, her good friend from College Musical. He was a head taller than Emily and would sometimes lean heavily on her like a playful older brother. The other two were a pair of brunette twins. Their names were Zachary and Timothy, but everyone called them Zy (Z-eye) and Ty. They stood about an inch taller than Emily yet it was almost too close to tell.

The four decided to walk around at the Games since Max wasn't competing for another hour and half; the twins had competed earlier that day. Max walked up ahead of Emily and the twins. Zy and Ty walked on either side of Emily with an arm each looped through hers.

"It's too bad our other co-captain…" Zy started.

"…Will couldn't be here," Ty finished.

Emily nodded in agreement. Will's older sister had gone into labor with her first child so he had immediately flown to Texas to help out for a few days. The twins suddenly pressed against her to give her a group hug. She laughed as did Max who looked over his shoulder to witness the twins sandwiching Emily between them.

/…/

The icon on the camera finished flashing. Emily sighed as she plopped down onto the computer chair. While he was at the hospital, Tom had asked her to download the photos and look over them to see which ones looked good, which needed editing, etc. She changed the view to Extra-large so she could get a better look at the photographs.

Emily currently sat at the computer desk they had sitting in the solarium. Sitting on the desk were two desktop computer monitors connected to each other to provide one long, wide screen. It was a recently new hook-up to help Tom with his photojournalism work. Her favorite part was that they were touch screens.

For the first time since she had moved in, Emily was alone. Tom was visiting Elizabeth Ann at the hospital and Emily had Cooper keeping close to Elizabeth Ann. If the warlords came after her (Emily), she knew she would be fine, but she didn't want to take the chance of them coming after Elizabeth Ann again. Plus, the Shadows served as a good "warning system" for her.

Emily reached forward to begin scanning through the pictures. She started organizing the pictures into three different folders within its main folder. After that, the blonde looked over the photographs. Tom had taken a nice assortment of photographs with a variety of crowd shots and different competitions.

She was looking through the photographs when she made the transition from Tom's to hers. Suddenly, she fell backwards against the seat with a gasp, causing the chair to scoot back on its wheels. With wide eyes, Emily scooted herself back forward. She tapped the computer screen and cropped the picture so she could zoom in on the center. There in the center of the photograph and dressed in plain mortal clothes were the Dark Warlords.

Emily frowned in confusion. This photograph forced a lot of questions up to the surface, but the most critical one bubbled to the top instantly. Why hadn't she seen them before when she had focused the camera on them? Thinking on that, Emily remembered what Tom had said to her earlier that day.

"_I just took some photos of the crowd over there, but I would like you to go through them again for me."_

Emily flipped back a few photographs to the same exact place her picture had been taken. To her horrifying surprise, there were four guys standing where the warlords were and were wearing the same exactly clothing. Yet they were clearly _not_ the warlords. Emily moved some things around and brought the two photographs up side by side with one on each screen.

She compared both photographs with a careful eye. The bodies stood at the same heights and in the same positions while wearing the same clothes. The only differences were their appearances with hair color, eye color, etc. That's when everything clicked.

"It's an illusion."

She was just now recalled Kento telling her about how Dais had used his illusions during a fight with him. Kento had been fighting hard against Dais before knocking him unconscious, only to discover it was really Cye and Dais had been behind him [Kento] the whole time.

[Sage?]

Emily had to figure out how this had happened. How was she able to photograph them through the illusion?

[_Emily? What's wrong?_]

Emily quickly caught her brother up on her discovery. A moment later, he replied back to her.

[_Give me a minute. Rowen just came in the door. He might have some insight on this_.]

Emily sat back in her chair and closed the folder where the pictures were saved. She laid her legs out with her feet just barely hanging off the edge of the desk.

[**I have a theory.**]

The blonde woman toppled violently off her chair when her fiancé's voice spoke to her across her mental link with Sage. She landed hard on her stomach and it took a few minutes for her to get her breath back.

[What the frick? Rowen?! How…Wha…?]

[**I have my hand on Sage's shoulder while he's focusing on you. Apparently, I can communicate through your sibling link this way.**]

Emily decided she was going to need a ginormous sized Slurpee at the end of this conversation. She asked Rowen to explain his thoughts.

[**I believe that the camera captured what **_**you**_** can see by the naked eye. I imagine you weren't personally focusing too hard on them. It's possible that, like Kento, you've developed a sense of seeing through Dais' illusions.**]

Emily sat back to ponder over Rowen's thoughts. He had some interesting points, but there was a single thought that occurred to her.

[I think you're wrong.]

She felt two strong waves of confusion wash over her before one wave transformed into great amusement.

[_Ha Ha Ha…*snort*_]

[**What is it that I'm wrong about?**]

Emily laughed out loud as she stood up to walk to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and pulled out a cold soda.

[Shut it, big brother. I don't think you're completely wrong, Ro. I agree about the whole camera thing. But I don't think seeing through the illusion is something I picked up from you ronins. I know I was with them for a short time, but I believe with the warlords resurfacing, that I am starting to show signs of the power I've gained from _them_.]

Sage's laughter grew quiet and she knew that both of them were probably discussing her thought out loud. She yanked up the pull tab and cracked open the soda can. She took a small sip while waiting for them to reply.

[_Do you think that's possible? You spent such a long time with us, but you were with them for only a week. And it's been two years._]

[I'm beginning to believe anything is possible, Sage. _Especially_ when the warlords are involved.]

She could sense her brother agreeing with her.

[**Be careful, Em.**]

Emily smiled. [I will.]

/…/

Cale stood atop the bridge overlooking the city with the darkness cloaking him from view. Today had been quite the change for the dark warlord. Only Dais had ever been the one to walk amongst the mortals without them detecting any differences. The Warlord of Illusion had cast powerful illusions over the four of them to change their appearances.

They had shown up at the Festival of Games to scout out the archers, but none of them had had a dog accompanying them. They had stuck around for most of the competitions yet had left before the exhibition shows. Whoever had shot Anubis with the arrow had obviously not been at the Festival.

Cale chuckled. He watched as the mortals moved about as if they had no worries. The thought of his rival's sister had been the sole thing to help him recover from his injuries. The Inferno had caused a lot of damage with destroying the dark overlord and gravely injuring the (three) warlords. He had thought long and hard of how he would repay the "little light."

His dark gaze shot from mortal to mortal. Kaori had been quiet since returning from the hospital. She had told them a visitor had come to see the injured mortal yet she had refused to tell them who. Then she had returned to the Nether Realm without them.

Cale snorted. It was of no matter. Soon they would find "little Emily" and strike a permanent hole through Halo's heart. He could perfectly picture the despair in Halo's eyes upon discovering his baby sister's fate.

/…/

_The downtown street was completely deserted. Not a soul was around. Emily walked down the street looking around for someone. Anyone._

"_Hello?"_

_Emily looked down at her clothes to see that she was wearing the same clothes as those of the last battle with Talpa. Cale's dark bandana was still worn loosely around her neck and her hand was still bleeding through the bandage. A cold chill ran up her back. She could feel a pair of eyes boring a hole into her._

_She whipped around with her eyes scanning every shadow and dark alley. Something swept by her back, touching her ever so lightly on the shoulder blade. Emily whipped back around with her hands up ready for a fight._

"_Who's there?" she demanded._

_Dark laughter filled the air. A familiar figure appeared in the middle of the street full of closed shops. Emily lowered her arms only a little as she took in his sudden appearance._

"_Hello, little light. You've no idea how I've missed you," Cale smirked._

_Emily glared._

"_I can only imagine," Emily replied dryly._

_Cale threw his head back and laughed. Black lightning streaked across the sky in bright ribbons of light. Emily tilted her head back to gaze up at the sky. Then she brought her head down to stare at him._

"_Soon, so soon," he told her._

"_Soon what?" Emily asked._

_Cale's dark smirk and glowing eyes did nothing to calm her frayed nerves._

"_Soon we will find you, little light. And Halo will regret ever letting you out of his sight."_

_This time, Emily surprised him by smirking. It resembled her brother when he knew something the other warrior didn't._

"_You seem to forget I'm not a little girl, Cale."_

_Suddenly, she disappeared as if the very shadows had encircled her. Unknown to him, Emily appeared behind him with a sly smile on her face._

"_A lot changes in two years, warlord."_

/…/

Cale opened his eyes and removed his hand from his fellow warlord's shoulder. He waited for Dais to open his eye to speak.

"How did she do that?"

Dais pondered a moment before answering.

"Mortals seldom have control over their subconscious. My armor allows me to dull the senses and bend their dreams to _my_ wishes. However, it seems our young "friend" is well-rested and able to manipulate her dreams to her desire," Dais commented with a dry smile.

"What you said is true," Dais added.

Cale raised an eyebrow. "That we'll be seeing her soon?"

"Of course."

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

**Keep up the reviews, my lovely readers and reviewers! I love to hear how y'all like the chapters and what you like about 'em.**


	29. Chapter 28

**jrzgrl02:** I love that I'm keeping you on the edge of your seat. Oh, now you know Emily isn't going to let any of the warlords take her back without a struggle. I am mostly back to health now (just a small pain in my leg that comes and goes). Been bowling up a storm in my free time after work.

**Vampire Ronin:** I've decided. Definitely going to share original ideas for this sequel at the end of the story. OOPS. Only a few OOPSies this time. Sorry for the extended wait. Been a bit busy doing this, that and the other.

**Enjoy the new chapter of "Trouble Follows Little Sister"!**

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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

If anyone were to look in the apartment and check on Emily, they would find her in a deep meditation. With her bedroom closed and locked, Emily was focused intently on contacting her Godfather. Underneath her bangs the kanji for Spirit was glowing a light green.

/…/

"…_and then he disappeared. I guess he broke the connection or something," Emily said._

_The two of them sat across from each other in a space where a few candles lit up the dark space around them._

"_Your power is starting to grow. Shifting through the shadows in your dreams means you'll soon be able to do it while awake," the Ancient One told her._

_Emily nodded. She had figured it had had something to do with her half-Shadow heritage._

"_I'm worried, Godfather. I think they suspect I'm really here and they're going to stick around until they find me," Emily said._

_The man reached forward to lay a hand over one of Emily's which was leaning on her knee._

"_This will be a very trying battle for you, but with the combined power of the ronins and the Shadows? It will make it all the much harder for them," he replied._

_Emily smiled. She turned her hand over so she could squeeze the older man's hand._

"_Thank you, Godfather. You make me feel a little better." Emily sighed. "Do you think they'll attack me in the open? At the college? If I'm discovered?"_

_The Ancient One shook his head._

"_That has never been their style. They tend to wait until the field is to their advantage. Try not to find yourself alone with any of them," he cautioned._

_As if remembering something, Emily made a face. If he had to take a guess, he would have to say it probably had something to do with a certain scarred warlord. It seemed her brother's rivalry with the other warrior extended to her as well._

"_I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening, Godfather. I've been in their company before." Emily grimaced. "I'd rather kiss a porcupine."_

_The Ancient One chuckled and patted Emily on the arm. Then he lifted his hand to touch her lightly on the cheek._

"_Be well, child."_

/…/

The kanji stopped glowing and disappeared just as Emily opened her eyes. She groaned as she checked the time.

"Have to finish that stupid Math homework," she mumbled.

She stood up from the floor and snatched up her backpack. She retrieved all her math stuff and brought it out to the dinner table. Emily found the page she had to work on and let out another, more agonizing groan.

"When am I ever going to use any of this?" she grumbled [1].

Poor Rowen had heard many of her math complaints over the years. She knew it made him happy he wasn't tutoring her in math anymore.

/…/

"Here's your change," the cashier said.

"Thanks."

Emily stuffed the change in her jacket pocket and snatched up her water bottle and apple. She dashed around the corner, only to nearly collide with another person. The other person threw up their hands to catch her by the upper part of her arms to prevent her from falling down backwards or colliding with them. Emily looked up into a familiar pair of blue eyes.

"Sorry about that," Emily automatically apologized.

Anubis chuckled as he brought his hands down.

"It's okay, Sky. Actually, I've been looking for you," he told her.

Several colorful words came to mind when he had uttered that sentence. A glance at the clock over his shoulder caused her to actually let one out. He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Whatever it is, you'll have to catch me later. I have less than two minutes to get clear across campus and up three flights of stairs. _Excuse. Me._"

Emily jerked around the brunette and dashed out the door a poor unsuspecting freshmen had just started opening. Running around a column, with no one around in sight, Emily disappeared like sand in the wind. She suddenly reappeared in the stairwell on the third floor of the main academic building. Emily came to an abrupt halt on the top of the stairwell of the third floor.

I think I just shifted through the Shadows, Emily said to herself.

She took a moment to remind herself to breathe as she took in a staggering breath. This was going to require further investigation. _Later_. Without looking at her watch, she dashed down the third floor hall to her classroom. They had several guest speakers visiting today and she couldn't miss that.

Meanwhile, back in the student union, Anubis sat down at a table with a man with dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. He looked up from a book he was reading when his friend sat down.

"Where's your mortal?" he asked.

"I'll catch her later. She ran off to a class," Anubis answered.

The other man snorted. "You're getting soft in your old age, Anubis."

He glared at the disguised Dais. The other warlord knew good and well that he, Anubis, was the youngest of the four of them.

"She was with our last victim when I met her [Elizabeth Ann]. I am ensuring she doesn't suspect anything."

Having gone back to reading, Dais' only response was a quiet snort which earned him another glare. Had they not been in such a public place, the warlord would not have hesitated to give him a piece of his mind.

/…/

Anubis was able to catch up with "Sky" later that day. He had inserted himself into a group of prospective students she was giving a tour of the school to. He didn't worry about Dais needing to cast an illusion over him. Sky had no reason to suspect him and he had lured Elizabeth Ann out of the theater by means of a child crying out for help. If Sky had a problem with him being with the group, she didn't let it show.

When they reached the school theater, Sky had them standing in the lobby and was talking about their spring musical. Out of nowhere, Elizabeth Ann rushed over to her side, quickly whispering something into her ear. Sky's eyes went wide as she snapped her head to the side. Elizabeth Ann meekly nodded her head at her. Sky then turned her attention back to her group.

"I apologize, but it seems there's some technical issues the crew needs help with. Please feel free to take a look around the lobby. We have some wonderful paintings hanging up around here. This should only take me a few minutes."

Sky quickly followed her friend through a pair of open double doors. The small group separated quietly and walked around to take a look at the paintings. Anubis shrugged, but decided to take a look at the art anyway. He had only looked at two paintings when he came to a stop in front of the third.

It was a small 12x12 painting of a snake. However, this wasn't just any ordinary snake. This was a painting of an albino Burmese Python. He stepped closer to it and looked carefully over the painting. With the appearance of a small white scar just under the snake's right eye, he recognized this particular snake.

/_This painting is of one of Sekhmet's snakes._/

Hunter stepped up beside him with a small smile on his face.

"It's a wonderful painting, isn't it?" Hunter asked.

Anubis made an hmm sound. "It is. Obviously painted by a very talented artist."

"It's one of Sky's best pieces. Her last painting was of a sunset," Hunt said.

On the outside, he didn't let his rage show. However, on the inside, he was seething. Anubis made sure to keep his gaze on the painting while speaking to Hunter.

"Sky? Do you mean the student giving the tour?" he questioned.

The warlord hated to admit he was a bit surprised when Hunter nodded his head. He quietly thanked the man and rejoined the group as Sky reappeared. The rest of the tour passed quickly with it finishing back off at the Admissions Office. When Emily stepped outside, she was a little surprised to see the familiar brunette.

"I couldn't help but notice you tagged along with my tour group today," Emily commented.

Anubis' smirk did nothing to soothe her nerves. She knew it had been dangerous to leave him alone with the group and having seen him with Hunter had been a big clue how wrong that decision had been.

"I enjoyed the tour but I believe my favorite part was seeing your painting in the theater. An albino Burmese Python, if I'm not mistaken," he said.

Emily knew instantly that he knew. He knew who she was or, at the very least, suspected who she was.

There's no sense in lying to him, then. It might anger any one of them and put others in danger, she thought.

"You're not mistaken. At least not about that."

Anubis raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Mm-hmm. See, you asked me a lot of questions about my friend, but you didn't ask anything about me. That was your first mistake," Emily told him, walking down a few outside steps to the office.

This time, he frowned. She made it sound as though he had made more than one "mistake."

"What was my second mistake, Sky?"

Emily chuckled as she walked slowly down two more steps.

"That was." She smirked. "You never asked me for my name."

"You told me your name was Sky," he stated in a clear voice.

Emily shook her finger as she clucked her tongue. Now she held his complete attention.

"You weren't listening very carefully, then. I said everyone _calls_ me Sky. It's only a nickname," Emily told.

She crossed down the rest of the steps and passed the momentarily stunned warlord. He turned around to face her the same time she turned around so her side was to him. His gaze was narrowed and she swore she saw his eyes glow with the power of his armor.

"What _is_ your name? Your _real_ name?" he growled.

"Emily."

With that said, Emily walked away from one of the four most dangerous men in the mortal realm.

/…/

**Dear Annalise,**

**I loved the photographs of your farm! I will definitely take the time this summer to visit you and your husband. It really sounds like you're having fun with your new volunteering job. Little Mikayla sounds like a little angel.**

**School is going well. The second semester isn't much different from the first. My classes are still mostly Introduction to… and 100 level courses. My favorite is my English Composition 102. The teacher has been published for her poetry and she's an amazing woman!**

**My family is good. I just spoke with Sage the other day. My sister Yayoi got a new job last month so she's only just begun to get into the swing of things.**

Emily finished composing her letter then read it back over. She nodded her head when she was satisfied with the two-page letter she had written to Annalise. She hadn't told the older woman about the whole issue that was about to snowball into trouble with the warlords.

/_There's no need for her to know._/

Emily sealed the envelope and put a stamp on it before setting it aside. Just then her roommate came into the apartment with a small bag of groceries. Emily winced before catching Tom's attention.

"_**I need to talk to you. It's important,**_" Emily told him.

Tom frowned in confusion before nodding his head. He asked her to let him put the groceries away first. Emily nodded to him as she picked up two pictures she had printed out. Now that Anubis knew who she was Emily felt she needed to warn those closest to her. She would start with Tom while she tried to figure out to give a shortened, less complicated version to Elizabeth Ann.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

**And the plot has thickened now. Please feed me the reviews, readers! I do so enjoy your feedback, thoughts, compliments, etc. Much thanks!**

[1] - Does this sound familiar? I'm sure I said this a few times about different math problems myself.


	30. Chapter 29

jrzgrl02: All is well in health (well…mostly, anyway). I have a cat so Emily keeping Anubis on the edge is like me dangling a toy in front of my kitty. Read below to find out what's coming up next.

**Author's Note: *looks at FF* Oh, dang it! I'm soooo close! I'm almost at 100 reviews. Okay, so as you can tell by how long it's been, I had a little problem with the special annoying little block again.**

Kento: *in the distance* Die, Block, die!

***sweatdrop* So the guys are still working on that. Enjoy! **

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Emily flopped down onto her back on the couch. She let out an agonizing groan as she slapped her hands down over her face. She was completely and utterly paranoid now. A few days had passed yet she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the warlords.

With Cooper keeping a very close eye on Elizabeth Ann, Emily hadn't wanted to panic the other woman by alerting her to the danger. However, she had told Tom so that he could be safe. Sigh. She remembered that conversation quite well.

/_Flashback_/

_Emily had just finished her tale and was waiting for Tom to say something. He was staring at the two photographs she had printed. One was of the warlords in their disguises then the other picture was them as themselves. It was the two photographs Emily had taken at the festival._

"_**How were you able to take photographs like this and find them?**_" _Tom asked, his hands flying across the around in front of him._

"_**I believe it's my r-o-n-i-n power. I'm able to see through the false images**_," _Emily replied._

_Tom let out a loud sigh while grumbling curses under his breath. Emily waited until he lifted his head and signed while keeping his mouth closed._

"**What do you need me to do?**_"_

/_End of Flashback_/

Emily recalled the conversation that followed. They had communicated through sign language only. Emily had expressed her wishes for him to keep an eye out for them around campus and alert her if or when he did see them. They had come up with a plan for a select few scenarios involving either one of them and at least one warlord.

She was jerked out of her musings by a small tug on her shirt. She removed her hands from her face to discover Cooper standing next to the couch.

"Cooper? What the-? You're supposed to be with Elizabeth Ann!" she scolded.

Cooper growled softly and pulled gently on the piece of shirt still gripped in his mouth. Emily laid her head back down with a groan.

"Go back to Elizabeth Ann, Coop."

However, the demon ghost wolf had other plans. He jumped backwards quickly, throwing Emily violently off the couch. She flipped in midair so when she landed loudly on the carpeted floor it was on her stomach. She let out a new, agonizing groan.

"_Cooper_."

_follow_

_wolf lead_

_must go_

Emily's head snapped up. If the shadow spirits were urging her as strongly as Cooper, then something must be up. She scrambled to her feet and followed Cooper to the apartment door. She made sure to lock the door behind her before following him down the stairs and into the woods. Once in the woods, Cooper took off running as his top speed in which Emily had to push her body and ronin power to keep up.

This must be really important, Emily thought to herself.

Thankfully, it was a new moon out tonight so no one would be able to spot the two. Emily whispered to the shadows to weave a cloak around her. She couldn't take the chance that any of the warlords were around. She felt the shadows wrap around her like a raincoat with a hood. It didn't hurt that she was wearing dark clothes, too.

They ran a good distance in only a few minutes before they cleared into an opening and Cooper slid to a stop. Emily faltered to a stop beside him. She was shocked by the image before her.

Before her stood a large dynasty gate. The sight was daunting and downright disturbing.

"Has anyone seen this?" she murmured.

_hidden_

_gate to realm_

_mortal no see_

_ronin see_

Emily understood what the shadows were trying to tell her. "Normal" mortals weren't able to see the gate, but because of her ronin power _she_ could see it.

"Do the warlords know this is here?" she whispered to Cooper.

Cooper silently shook his head before sitting back on his haunches. Emily knew she wouldn't be able to use her power as a half-Shadow to hide the gate away, but she felt she had to do something. Then a sudden thought occurred to her.

"I wonder…"

She had raised her suspicions to her brother and her husband-to-be about her ability to tap in the power of the warlords. Since she had already been able to see through Dais' illusion (despite it being done accidentally), perhaps she could tap into the ability.

/The only problem with tapping into their power is that it may not be as strong as the ronins and I don't know how to call upon that power./

Emily bit her bottom lip. She didn't know if this was the only gate granting them access to the nether realm, but she wasn't willing to take that chance. Emily let out a breath and thought about how an illusion was done.

"Let them see what you want them to see."

Cooper turned his head to look up at Emily in confusion. Emily looked up at the intimidating gate and thought of an image. Dais was able to change his image because he distorted the image by lightening and darkening colors and making small adjustments. Emily tried to think of the gate in the same way.

Cooper jumped back and barked when the image started to change. The gate seemed to maintain its large shape but started twisting into a spiral as tree bark replaced painted colors. As the image distorted, Emily made it as accurate as she could. While she was impressed this was working on her first try, Emily remained focused on the task at hand. After an hour of focusing and casting the illusion, the blonde fell to the ground exhausted.

She sat down cross-legged while quietly admiring her illusion. It had taken almost all of her energy as her vision blurred for a few seconds. The once dynasty gate was now an old, rotted tree with no leaves. She had made it extremely old and unsafe so _anyone_ that saw it wouldn't try to go near it.

As she tried to get her breathing under control, Emily felt the shadows wrap around the image. Cooper whined softly and nudged her gently on the cheek.

"I just need a moment, Coop. That took a lot out of me. I'm not sure if it's the size of the illusion or the smaller amount of exposure to the warlord armors, but I'm tired," Emily sighed.

She waited until her breathing had calmed down and allowed Cooper to pull her to her feet. As she allowed the demon ghost wolf to lead her back home, Emily hoped that the illusion would hold while she was away.

/…/

"_Sky?_"

Emily poked her head out of a closet full of fallen boxes and misarranged items. She strained to reach over to a shelf where her walkie was sitting. She pressed the Call button and held it up close.

"What's up?"

Hunter's voice came back over the walkie talkie. "_We got some visitors up here asking about you._"

_caution_

_strangers_

_nether presence_

Emily was starting to "sense" what the Shadows wanted to tell her before she actually heard the words in her mind. She figured it was the Shadows starting to merge with her so she could automatically know what they were telling her.

In this case, "strangers" and "nether presence" had to be the warlords. But she had to check first. She held the Call button down and gave her reply.

"Description?" she asked, cringing at the thought it could be _them_.

"_Four specimens of the male species._"

Emily snorted. It figures. Hunter _would_ give a vague description like that. So she decided to play along.

"And their cuteness based on a scale from yikes to get the defibrillator?"

Emily chuckled as she heard laughter from the other theater helpers that had heard her comment over their walkies. It was a few seconds later when Hunter came back on.

"_For the safety of my relationship with Lizzie, I am going to choose __**not**__ to answer that question._"

From the stage, the roar of laughter echoed down the hall and into the room she was in. Hunter did come back on and explained that he had seen the one visitor several times.

"Anubis," Emily murmured, making sure to _not_ have the Call button pressed down.

She had a decision to make. She couldn't allow the warlords to be around the other mortals for fear of them attacking the innocents. Yet she had to do _something_.

"Tell 'em I'm staying late tonight to check on everything. They can come back then."

"_Seriously?!_"

Hunter had a right to be surprised. He had originally told everyone he would stay late, but then he had come to them just this morning for a request. There was a guest lecturer speaking tonight that he was dying to go listen to. So he had asked if someone would volunteer for night duty.

"Yeah. I'll do it. I'll stay late. Lock up and everything."

"_Thankyouthankyouthankyou! You're the best, Emily! I will gladly show them the door._"

Emily cringed. If Hunter thought he wasn't going to have difficulty shoving _them_ out the door, then he had another thing coming to him. She only had to wait a few minutes before she felt as though the Shadows around her had released one giant sigh.

_safe_

_threat gone_

_calm, breathe_

"For now," Emily mumbled.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly with different sound tests and fixing going on. The last thing that was done before everyone dispersed was move furniture and other props out onto stage. Emily made sure the group had everything in place for the scene practice tomorrow afternoon, including the large rectangular shaped carpet that covered the trapdoor.

She stood in the center of the carpet. The nice thing about it was that its rectangular shapes on the carpet hid the trapdoor with its carpet covering well. She stood slightly behind it and kicked gently at the door. It held good.

She kept glancing at her watch and wondering why the warlords hadn't come back yet. She finished sweeping backstage and was walking across the stage when her phone went off. Emily stopped dead in the center of the carpet and over the trapdoor. She fetched her cell phone out of her pocket and locked at the caller ID.

"Holy crap! I actually get reception in here?" she mumbled.

She answered the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"_Hello Em. How are you?_"

Emily started to speak, but suddenly the Shadows started going ballistic.

_caution_

_danger_

_not safe_

_nether presence_

Oh shit. I got to get off the phone, Emily thought.

"Sage? I'm going to have to call you back," she told him.

"_Why? What are you up to?_" she heard him demand more than ask.

"I have…uh…company right now. So I will talk to you later. Bye-bye."

She hung up the phone and stuffed it back into her pocket.

"Lying to your brother, little light?"

Emily froze.

Oh, screwball.

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

**Author's Note: Maybe a cliffhanger will get the reviews rolling in. *cue evil laughter* HA HA HA**

**While working on this story, I am also working on two other RW fan fics. One of them I might start posting soon seeing as I'm on chapter…err 6 or so. Still thinking about it, though. I had actually planned to have this up on Sunday, but I had a tough time getting through the chapter. That and this Tiger got sick again on Monday (screwball!). Please PLEASE review. Maybe the reviews will help my health! **


	31. Chapter 30

**RedAppleAvalon: **Haven't seen a review from you since Chapter 26. Very glad to see you back. Thank you!

**jrzgrl02:** Hey, girl! You know me. Now that I'm on summer break I am going to be throwing lots of suspense in my writing. I love how phone calls happen at just the right moment. I just posted the first chapter to one of the new stories. Be sure to check it out.

**TheWhiteWanderer:** Ooh, it's been a while since you've left me a review. *looks at records* Wow! Chapter 19? Yeah, I've posted a few chapters since your last review. My health has all been good now. Just trying to make sure I drink plenty of fluids, especially Cranberry juice.

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER THIRTY

Sage frowned as he put his cell phone down. Rowen was sitting next to him sharing an early lunch with his best friend.

"What's up?" Rowen asked once he swallowed what was in his mouth.

"Something's wrong," Sage murmured.

Now it was Rowen who frowned. He asked him to explain.

"Emily said she couldn't talk. She said she had…company," Sage said, pulling a face.

Rowen shrugged.

"Emily has a lot of friends, Sage. They could be having a party. It is, after all…" Rowen paused. "…around ten o'clock at night there Monday night."

Sage crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair.

"Emily's never used that word before."

Rowen placed his sandwich down and sat back to give Sage his full attention. With Talpa's four warlords in town, anything was possible with Emily.

"Emily always refers to people as they are. Family, friends, classmates, _by name_. She has never referred to anyone as company or acquaintances," Sage explained.

Rowen took a moment to process the information while closing his eyes. Then he opened them to look back at his blonde buddy.

"This isn't good, is it?"

"When it involves my baby sister?"

Nod.

"No. It's not good."

/…/

Emily thought of every curse she knew in English, Japanese, Sign Language, and Latin (thank you, Rowen!). She turned around slowly to face the very man that had haunted her nightmares and given her cause for not staying out late for a long time afterwards.

"The way I see it, I didn't lie. You're here, aren't you?" Emily spoke carefully.

Cale chuckled as he held out his arms as if waiting for a relative to come leaping into them.

"I have missed you greatly, little light," Cale said.

I bet you did, Emily thought with a sneer.

"What's the matter, Cale? Didn't enjoy the company of your fellow warlords the last two years?" Emily replied, goading him.

His eyes flashed angrily. However, he was halted from replying by another loud chuckle. Emily tilted her to the side, looking to her left. Sitting on the back of a couch placed on stage was Anubis.

"Your little light amuses me, brother." It was hard to tell who gave him the uglier look. "Though, I wonder what your answer is."

[You know good and well what my answer is.]

Anubis chuckled again. Emily didn't have to ask what the second chuckle had been about. The two reminded her of the ronins when they were using the armor mental link.

"Stick around. Find out how good my sense of humor really is," Emily told him.

Anubis smirked. "I look forward to it."

The blonde had to suppress a shiver. Something about Anubis set him apart from the other three warlords and Emily didn't like it. The Shadows were practically screaming at her to get back from both the warlords with more emphasis on Anubis.

"How is your friend?" Anubis asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"She's doing fine, thank you. How's your shoulder?" Emily shot back before thinking first.

Anubis tilted his head slightly and narrowed his gaze. He didn't recall his mentioning his injury to the blonde and there had been no signs of it when he had first confronted her afterwards. The steady gaze of his fellow warlord told him he was curious, too. So that could only mean one thing.

"Good at archery, _little light_?" Anubis asked curiously.

Emily flashed him a smile. She already blew it with her comment. Might as well tell the truth.

"Well, I am the co-captain of the intramural archery team," she smirked.

Anubis' eyebrows shot up and Cale had to suppress the urge to laugh out loud.

[Ha, ha, ha! The little light shot you with an arrow.]

[Shut it, Cale!]

While the two had their silent conversation, Emily had snuck a small item out of her jeans pocket and held her hand partially closed so it couldn't be seen. Talking instead of striking out at her had given her the time to formulate an escape route.

"Don't take it personal, Anubis." Dais was leaning against an old phone booth to the right. "Halo's sister just happened to be at the right place at the right time."

If Anubis and Dais are to my sides and Cale is in front of me, then I have a sneaking suspicion where the fourth probably is, Emily thought.

"What's on your hand, girl?"

Ding, ding, ding! Guess what. Emily was right about the whereabouts of the Warlord of Venom. She almost thought he had seen the small object in her hand, but then she remembered she had removed her gloves earlier. They were currently sitting backstage on a small drum.

Emily closed her scarred hand into a fist as she turned so she had Cale and Sekhmet on either side of her. Right now, she considered them her biggest threat. She glared at him. It was _his_ fault she had the scar in the first place.

"Go to Hell," she spat.

Sekhmet raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face. "Did I hit a sore subject?"

Emily had to suppress her anger. She couldn't let her anger get the best of her and risk the ronin power lashing out uncontrollably.

_darkness_

_closer_

_caution_

To Cale's surprise, Emily's head snapped to the side to face him just as he finished taking one step closer. He was quite sure he had avoided the creaky board, but perhaps he hadn't. They were all startled when Emily's cell phone rang again. Emily muttered a curse which didn't go unheard as she ripped the cell phone out of her pocket.

"Hello?"

"_Hello. This is Molly-Harrison Memorial Hospital. Your roommate Tom asked us to contact you._"

Anubis had the pleasure of seeing Emily's eyes roll up and slightly back. Whoever was on the phone seemed to have told her something she had heard before.

"Oh Hell," Emily mumbled.

[I can see why you speak so highly of your little light, Cale. She's simply delightful.]

[Wait until she's off the phone. Then the _real_ fun will begin.]

The other two warlords nodded their heads in agreement.

"_Your roommate seems to have fainted at Wal-Mart. An ambulance brought him here and he is conscious now, but has asked that you be present before he allows us to run any tests._"

Emily wasn't sure if she should be thankful for Tom being okay or for him fainting in the first place. Emily quickly did the calculations in her head on doing what she had planned in order to escape the warlords and get to the hospital.

"I'll be there soon as I can," Emily murmured before hanging up.

"Where do you think you're going, little light?" Cale teased.

Emily smiled pleasantly at him which should have been his clue to move then. Without warning, Emily dropped to one knee while simultaneously dropping the small metal ball hidden in her hand. A large collection of dark purple smoke engulfed her, completely hiding her from view.

Having not sat or leaned on anything, Sekhmet and Cale darted forwards to grab up the blonde girl. The smoke cleared and Emily was nowhere in sight. Cale had seen Emily focusing before on the spot she had been standing on only seconds ago. One swift kick was all it took to reveal the trap door.

The two warlords jumped down after her while Anubis and Dais shifted to the outside. They planned to block her from all sides. Unknown to the four warlords, Emily sat high up in the rafters. At the very last minute the Shadows had wrapped around her and transported her to the rafters.

"Morons," she mumbled.

_anticipate_

_warlord door aware_

_shadows protect_

Emily smiled softly. "Thank you."

Emily then used the Shadows to take her away from the theater and out of range of the warlords.

/…/

**From:** Samuel Walker

[walkers ]

**Sent: **Monday, February 4, 2013 9:22 PM

**To:** Emily Date

[dateemi ]

**Subject:** Greetings from ND

Good evening, Emily.

The Panel has been going well. I have the pleasure of working with several of my colleagues I haven't seen in quite some time. As you can tell by the subject, I am now in North Dakota. The scenery is beautiful, despite the current 34°F temperature. I trust everything is going well with your classes and your family. As promised, I will send pictures of the mountains at another time. Have a good evening and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Samuel Walker

Samuel looked over his email before clicking the Send button. He didn't have much to say at the moment, but he had promised to email the young woman. He sighed as he stood up. The college counselor groaned as his bones creaked in protest of him moving.

"Best to take a shower and get some rest. That panel starts early tomorrow," Samuel murmured to himself.

/…/

Meanwhile, while Dr. Walker was hopping into the shower, Emily was standing next to Tom in a hospital room. They had just taken blood and urine from him so for the moment it was only the two of them on the stretcher out in the hall. Tom was leaning back on a propped up pillow with a nasal oxygen tube on. Upon arriving at the hospital Emily had pulled the full story out of the nurse on duty.

[1] Tom had indeed been at the store, but he hadn't fainted. He had become short of breath while enjoying a late night meal at the Subway in Wal-Mart. The manager had noticed him starting to struggle and, not wanting to take a chance, had immediately called for an ambulance. He wasn't quite sure why he was so short of breath. The oxygen seemed to be helping, though.

"_**How are you feeling?**_" Emily asked.

Tom smiled weakly and shrugged as best as he could. Emily motioned him to scoot over so she could sit next to him but facing him so her feet were against his side. She leaned on his leg gently to give him a little comfort.

"_**I feel tired,**_" Tom said, speaking quietly.

Emily hoped there wasn't something serious going on with Tom. She asked him if he was in pain. She was surprised when he told her no. The doctor came over and needed to ask Tom a few questions. He stood next to Emily and spoke directly to Tom while Emily attempted to interpret at the same time.

"_**What time did this happen at?**_" This was an easy first statement for Emily to interpret.

"It happened after eight," Tom told him.

Tom was too tired to sign, but the doctor didn't understand sign language and his speech was decent enough that he could be understood without much trouble.

"_**Okay. We're going to…keep you going…on the oxygen while we wait…for the tests to come back.**_"

This time, Emily struggled with keeping up with the fast talking doctor. At one point, she was having the doctor say his bit, then she would repeat it back to him verbally and then sign it to Tom. Finally, the doctor stepped away, saying he would return when the test results came back.

"**I want to thank you,**" Emily said with a small smile.

Tom's cloudy gaze watched Emily in silence. The only sound was breathing. His eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"**I was in trouble. They came to the theater,**" Emily signed.

She hadn't been in trouble, per say, but she didn't know a sign for confronted. Thankfully, she didn't have to expand on who _they_ were. Tom brought his hands up and started signing back to her. Sadly, while she was watching him, she lost focus on what he was actually saying. In response, she only shrugged. Tom glared weakly.

"**What did I say?**" he asked, a serious look crossing over his face.

Emily grinned sheepishly and shrugged. Tom told her right then and there that if she didn't understand him he needed to tell her.

"**I will.**"

"**Promise?**"

"**I promise.**"

Soon the doctor returned and took the oxygen off Tom. He explained that all the tests had come back negative so they wanted to run a CAT scan. Emily was relieved Tom wore hearing aids and not cochlear implants. That could have been trouble for him.

The rest of the witching hour passed with nothing popping up positive. The doctor gave Tom orders to take it easy at home and rest. Emily walked slowly next to him on the way out of the hospital. She had called Elizabeth Ann who had gotten a friend to drive her to the store to bring Tom's car over.

Tom climbed into the passenger seat, buckled his seat belt, and slumped down against the window while facing Emily. She put her seat belt on and started the car. Tom had expressed his concerns about the warlords following them to home. She had told him her thoughts in return.

"_It's a chance we have to take, but I'm hoping the Shadows will shield us._"

Truth be told, as she drove them home to the apartment, Emily knew the Shadows were shielding them. They were speaking to her now; reassuring her there was no danger, the warlords were a long distance away, and they had no idea of her whereabouts.

"Looks like a storm is coming," Tom commented, tilting his head forward to look up through the windshield.

Emily followed his gaze and noticed the storm clouds rolling in off the coast. She took one hand off the steering wheel as she replied to Tom.

"_**I'm sure it will be fine. We need the rain.**_"

Tom nodded in agreement before sitting in silence for the rest of the car trip.

/…/

Cale sat in the corner brooding in silence. His fellow warlords had drifted off to sleep but he was still seething over the girl's escape. He couldn't begin to understand how she had been able to do it without any of them spotting her. However, while her escape bothered him worse than a festering wound, he had other things to think about.

Ever since they had targeted the little light's friend, Cale had felt a rift in the darkness somewhere. He allowed the darkness of the room to curl around him like a rattlesnake curling its body up. There was a small hole in the darkness that couldn't be explained. In all his time of possessing the Armor of Corruption (Darkness) he had never seen anything quite like this.

I do wonder what this could mean, Cale thought.

A loud crack of thunder caused him to open his eyes. All that was around him was black. Using the power of his armor, he opened a small window in the darkness to allow him to look out the window of their room.

The sky was teeming with dark storm clouds, complete with roaring thunder and powerful lightning bolts. He smirked. It was weather like this that drew power to his armor. Mortals were known for their fear of such powerful and unpredictable storms. To him, it was a sign of the near future.

"I look forward to toying with you, little light, before finally giving you a painful death."

He was still sore about that horrific headache he had woken up from after eating that casserole and it had taken longer than usual to recover from Wildfire's final attack. The other warlords weren't as Hell-bent as he was which would make it all the more easier to convince them to allow him his fun.

Watch out, little light. I'm coming for you and you'll never see me coming, he thought with a dark chuckle.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY

[1] - This is actually something that happened to a friend of mine. Except he was at [his] college and it was his (soon to be at the time) ex-roommate that pulled this stunt. We didn't know this until much MUCH later. Apparently, she didn't believe him when he told her she was allergic to chocolate and she snuck a small piece of chocolate into his oatmeal. Needless to say, this Tiger was _**not**_ happy.

**Keep on reading, people, because this next chapter is going to come to blows!**


	32. Chapter 31

**jrzgrl02: **It hadn't been Emily's original plan to use the Shadows to get away. They took slight control when they [the Shadows] realized what she wanted to do. No, the boys don't plan on coming to Emily's aid just yet (OOPS! Spoiler alert for future chapter). Basically, the two warlords were agreeing to have "fun" aka torture Emily with Cale getting the first "batch of fun." And, yes, he has it bad. I envision him quite angry due to the fact that it a girl and the youngest sibling of his archrival. Oh, my friend is fine. This happened several years ago, like in '08. He's still nutty as ever but one of the best pals ever. I love putting my readers in suspense. Keep reading!

**RedAppleAvalon: **Thank you, thank you! I am trying to update as much as possible since I have so much free time now.

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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

It was two days later and Tom was resting peacefully in his room. Of course, it had taken Emily sitting on his stomach and threatening to glue him to bed to get him there. Despite the approaching storm, Emily had vowed to leave the apartment today. She needed to catch up with her Mathematics professor and ask him a question about the project he had assigned. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid the warlords forever and she desperately needed to talk to her professor if she hoped to pass.

She weaved the Shadows around her but had to wait a few minutes to leave the apartment. She had concentrated so strongly on calling forth the power that the markings had appeared on her arms. Once the markings disappeared, Emily left.

_safe_

_no worry_

_nether presence gone_

Rather than take one of the vehicles, Emily tried shifting through the Shadows on purpose. At first, nothing happened. Then she simply allowed her body to relax and her mind to clear. She was shocked as blackness formed all around her as if she were going into a tunnel. Then several small windows appeared around her.

Each window included a scene relevant to her. The windows included images of the apartment kitchen, Mia's house, her family's home, the family dojo, and the college campus. Emily walked over to the image of the college and stood in front of it.

"What do I do now?" Emily murmured.

_image grow_

_walk through_

_shift_

Emily gasped. As she stood in front of the image, it grew from its small 18x18 size until it was the size of her. Hesitantly, Emily stepped forward into the image. The colors of the image blurred around her like the Shadows and suddenly she was standing just outside the art building on campus.

"That was so cool," she mumbled with a big smile.

She looked around to make sure no one had noticed her sudden appearance, but luckily there was no one around. Emily walked around the building and across the campus to the main academic building. Her professor was on the fifth floor, but she didn't have any trouble jogging up all the stairs. Her luck increased when her professor was in his office.

"Professor Poparoy? Do you have a minute?"

The professor, a middle-aged man with slowly graying hair, looked up from his computer. He smiled when he spotted the young blonde.

"Ah, Emily. Habri za mchana," the professor greeted, standing up to reach across the desk to shake hands with her.

Emily couldn't help but scrunch up her face.

"I'm sorry?"

Professor Poparoy chuckled as he motioned for Emily to take a seat. She sat down in one of the small well cushioned chairs that sat in front of his desk.

"Please forgive me. My wife is on a mission trip for the next few months and I've been learning the language with her ever since," he said, sitting down.

"It's okay, professor. If you don't mind me asking, what language were you speaking?" Emily questioned.

"Swahili. I wished you a good afternoon. Now, what can I help you with today?" Professor Poparoy asked.

The two started a conversation on the recently assigned project. They talked for so long that Emily lost her focus on the shadows cloaking her and blocked out the voice of the spirits. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Emily stood up to leave.

"Thank you for taking time to speak with me, professor. You cleared up a lot of things for me," Emily told him.

"Nina furaha. I'm glad. Before you go, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" Professor Poparoy replied.

Emily was confused by what he could want to ask her. She shrugged and motioned him to speak.

"I didn't have you in my class last semester, but I saw you around the campus quite often. I've noticed you're always wearing these gloves on your hands," he hinted.

Emily nodded her head in understanding.

"I have a really bad scar on my hand and it hurts from time to time. It's kind of big and in the center of my palm. Sometimes, it hurts to handle items with it so I wear a glove over it to keep it from getting worse. I just wear the other glove to make it symmetrical," Emily explained.

"Ah. Well, thank you for sharing with me. I'm sure you have more exciting things to do on a Wednesday afternoon."

"Thanks again, professor."

Emily left the room feeling a little better about the assignment. She was jogging down the stairs when she stopped on the stairwell next to a window. The sky was now completely covered by the darkest storm clouds she had ever seen. They looked as though they would dump the next worldwide flood.

Emily jogged down the rest of the steps and to the outside. It was a shock to see no one around on campus.

Everyone must have gone inside to avoid the rain, Emily thought.

She walked around the side of the art building with the intent to shift through the Shadows again. All the sudden, Emily stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk.

_danger_

_not safe_

_nether presence_

_flee_

"Oh, screwball," Emily hissed.

She couldn't risk letting them see her shift and she _definitely_ couldn't risk leading them back to the apartment. So she took off in the opposite direction. Emily ran down several sidewalks, darting through crosswalks and getting far away from the apartment.

Thunder rumbled overhead and a lightning bolt lit up the sky. She finally came to the woods where she came to an abrupt halt halfway in. She was in a small opening surrounded by trees and just beyond those trees was completely darkness. Emily felt the voices of the Shadows unexpectedly go quiet.

This momentarily disoriented her. She jerked her head around, her eyes darting back and forth from tree to tree. Just before they had quieted, the spirits had warned her one of the four was nearby.

"What's the matter, little light? Afraid of the dark?" a voice snickered in her ear.

She whipped around to her right but saw nothing.

"Not very likely. Where are you, ya jerk?" Emily shouted.

All she could hear was his laughter. She couldn't pinpoint where he was based on it because it seemed to echo all around the clearing. Emily knew no one would be interrupting this encounter and it wouldn't be an easy escape. After all, she had managed to somehow leave her cell phone back at the apartment.

She felt the familiar touch of a hand pulling a strand of hair back behind her ear. Emily turned around swiftly, her hand slicing across the air as Cale faded away again. She was getting real ticked real fast.

"Come out and fight, you coward!" Emily yelled.

Emily never saw the hit coming. A swift kicked collided with her gut and sent her flying into a tree. Her back landed hard against the tree and she slid down to the ground with her hand over her stomach. She glared up at her attacker through the pieces of hair that had fallen in front of her face.

"What's the matter, little light? Was I too fast for you?" Cale taunted.

Emily gritted her teeth as she felt the Halo power heal the slight internal damage and slow forming bruise. Once it finished, she climbed to her feet while giving Cale the darkest look he had ever seen from her. He hated to admit it, but the glare sent tingles down his spine. And not the good kind.

What could this mortal child possibly do to me without the power of the ronin armors, Cale thought.

"I should be asking you the same question. Are you afraid to fight me now?" Emily dared to ask.

Cale let out a low whistle. The last two years had done nothing to curb that sharp tongue Halo's sister possessed. In fact, her attitude seems to have gotten bolder.

"If you wish to die so young, then so be it."

Emily brought her hands up in front of her to block right before the warlord could land another punch on her. Emily quickly did an analysis, even as she blocked blows with her gloved hands. Cale wasn't in his subarmor which evened the field a little bit since the last time they had fought [within the dynasty]. Also, he was allowing his vengeance to cloud his vision.

Emily twisted her body to the side, allowing Cale's punch to fly past in front of her. She brought her arm underneath his and twisted his arm around to his side using her arm by pushing up & jerking over. She used the sudden momentum to take her other hand to punch him in the jaw.

This caused him to stagger backwards slightly. Going on her adrenaline rush, she released his arm and twirled around give him a good hard kick to the stomach. That put a little bit of distance between them. By the time he had righted himself, Emily stood with her hands up with the fingers curled inward. He lifted his hand up to his split lip and when he pulled it away there was a small dab of blood on his middle finger.

"Someone's learned a few new tricks in the last two years," Cale murmured.

Emily smirked right before she went on the offensive. Now it was Cale who was dodging punches and kicks. They traded blows back and forth, switching off from offensive to defensive. Thunder rumbled the Earth while lightning lit up the sky.

At last, he had her pinned to a tree with a cut bleeding just above her right eye. He held her wrists in a death grip by her sides. She gritted her teeth as his nails dug into her skin to the point of almost drawing blood. He bent down to whisper in her ear.

"I hope you'll forgive me for being so close," he hissed.

Emily chuckled into his ear.

"And I hope you _won't_forgive me for _this_."

That was all the warning the warlord got before his world exploded in flashes. His hands instantly released Emily and he fell down to one knee, completely at lost for breath. Over the roaring in his ears, he barely heard Emily muttering a curse at him. Emily quickly twirled around and away from him.

_darkness power_

_weak_

Emily wasn't surprised to feel the Shadows return to her. She knew her sudden blow would probably temporarily weaken the warlord's power surrounding the area. Emily saw lightning strike nearby. That was it! She knew how she could get away!

She turned around to see Cale climb to his feet and summon his subarmor.

"_You're going to pay for that,_" he growled.

"Not very likely."

Spotting a bolt flashing across the sky over their heads, Emily threw up her hand. The Halo power drew the lightning bolt to her gloved hands where she brought it to the center in front of her. To his great shock, the lightning formed a ball between her hands. She twirled her body around before hurling the lightning ball at him like a softball.

Then everything went black.

/…/

"You did what?!"

Kento was staring at Emily in disbelief. He had been sitting on the couch watching cartoons when Emily had swiftly faded into view right in front of him. She had explained to him that she had shifted through the Shadows to get there.

"Seriously, Ken? I just finished telling you what happened," Emily scolded.

Kento opened his mouth to speak, but was quieted when Rowen came through the front door. He stopped short in the doorway when his eyes fell on Emily.

"You're not astral projecting right now, are you?" Rowen said more than asked.

Emily smiled as she walked over and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"No. I shifted. Through the Shadows," Emily answered.

Rowen let out a big sigh. "What's happened, Em?"

"I just came from a fight with Cale…and I won," Emily told him.

Rowen's eyebrows couldn't have gone any higher as he motioned for his wife-to-be to continue. She repeated the story she had just finished telling Kento. She had sensed his presence and became engaged in a fight with him upon entering the woods. She told him about getting pinned and what she had done to get released.

Rowen cringed when she told him.

"And he wasn't wearing his subarmor at that moment?" Rowen asked.

"No," Emily answered.

"Ooh. I bet he was seeing stars after that," Rowen murmured in slight sympathy.

Emily shrugged. She had a fair idea of how much pain she had inflicted upon the warlord, but in her opinion he should have known better.

"So is that how it ended? You landed a…uh low blow to his…uh…*cough*…pride," Rowen said, struggling for words.

Meanwhile, Kento was having a hearty laugh. He was laughing more about Rowen's choice of words than what Emily had done to the Warlord of Corruption. Emily couldn't help but let out a small chuckle herself.

"If you want it to put it that way, okay. But no, it didn't end there. He called his subarmor ("Because he learned his lesson!" Kento burst out) and he looked ready to kill me. There was lightning striking over us so I drew one in and hurled it at him."

Rowen stared at her. He blinked. Blinked again.

"You did what?" Rowen asked slowly.

In the background, Kento burst out in a new peal of laughter. Those had been his exact words when Emily had finished telling him. She turned around and smacked him in the shoulder with the back of her hand.

After a few minutes, she was able to shake Rowen out of his shellshock and bring Kento down from his hysteria. It was then that Rowen recalled something Emily had said to Sage a while back.

"_Oh, oh! Sage, it was so cool!"_

"_What was so cool?" Sage asked._

"_I went training out during a thunderstorm – Don't give me that look! – And a few lightning bolts struck at me. I was able to channel them from one hand to the other then back at the clouds. It. was. amazing!"_

Rowen looped an arm around Emily's waist and pulled her close. It was a rare show of affection in front of others, even if it was just Kento. He was just relieved to see Emily, not her astral projection.

"Sage is worried."

Emily nodded her head from its place on Rowen's chest. "I know."

Rowen brought his hand underneath her chin to tilt her head up. His eyes were full of many emotions – joy, concern, weariness, empathy – but the strongest was the clear show of affection. He traced her jaw with a finger and lowered his face a little closer to hers. They both ignored Kento gagging in the background.

"I'm worried," he murmured.

Emily's smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "I know."

She closed the distance between them to share a kiss with her intended. He held a hand up to the back of her neck as they kissed. After a long kiss, they shared a few smaller but no less meaningful kisses.

"Get a room already!" Kento shouted in a teasing tone.

They separated but with only a small bit of space between them.

"Would you excuse me for a minute?" Emily whispered.

"Take all the time you need," Rowen whispered back.

Fortunately, Kento had been able to hear them both, thus giving him a head start. He scrambled over the back of the couch, through the kitchen, and out the door. Emily whipped around once Rowen had dropped his hands down. She dashed forward, pushing off from the front of the couch and did a somersault in the air.

She landed safely behind the couch where she pushed off to dash through the kitchen and out the open door. She could afford to wait a few minutes to return home. After she caught the skunk, of course.

"Get back here, Kento!"

"Not a chance! I'd sooner take on Sage than you!"

/…/

The burn was small in size with pink in the center and black around the outside of it. He finished dabbing the solution Sekhmet had mixed together on the wound. The unconscious warlord let out a small hiss but otherwise did not wake. It had been quite the surprise when he had appeared in the room unconscious with a severe burn.

Anubis had been away at the time, but Sekhmet and Dais had been present in the room. Since the burn seemed quite severe, they had determined he would need a little extra help with his armor healing. Dais finished giving him a quick check to ensure there were no other injuries while Sekhmet had mixed some herbs and other things together. After he had given the concoction to Dais, Sekhmet had disappeared off to wherever Anubis was.

Neither one of them had an answer as to what had happened. Cale had tracked Halo's sister down to the college and, after speaking quietly with Anubis about something, had left to have a go at her. Dais had been aware of the thunderstorm, but Cale never had trouble with lightning in the past.

I don't imagine it could have been because he wasn't using his armor, Dais thought.

He stood and walked back over to the chessboard sitting at a small table with two chairs. He had finally convinced Sekhmet to play a game with him and it was currently his [Dais] turn. He gazed over the chess pieces, running through his mind all the plays the two had made thus far.

What a shame Halo's sister must die. Next to Anubis, she's given me the greatest challenge in chess, Dais thought.

He ignored the pain-filled groan his fellow warlord let out. If the scarred warlord ever knew he had made such a sound, he would deny it to the end of days. Dais reached his hand forward to move his Queen across the board and took out one of Sekhmet's knights. He smirked.

"Checkmate."

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

**I am on a roll! I want those 100 reviews and by the gods, I will get them! *evil cackle***

Ronins: O_O

**Uh…I mean, please don't forget to leave a review on your way to the next fan fic. And that I hope to have the next chapter up before this weekend comes. Thank you! **


	33. Chapter 32

**jrzgrl02: **Seems like most of my other reviewers have deserted. Thanks so much for your continuous reviews! I thought of how much of an adrenaline rush Emily must have been on so first thought was: transport home to brother. Of course, they want revenge! In their eyes, she caused the whole mess because of her ronin power and Ryo unleashing the Inferno in order to protect her. You'll have to find out maybe later if she caught Kento. The end of this chapter will have you and whoever else is still reading on the edge of your seats. HA HA HA ;)

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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

"That's not possible."

"You must be wrong."

Cale glared fiercely at his fellow warlords.

"I think _I_ would know. I was there when she threw the damn thing at me." Cale's eyes flashed. "_Halo's sister still has her ronin power_."

The other three took a few quiet moments to process this information. The last thing any of them knew was that Emily had given her ronin power back to the ronins before they [Dais, Sekhmet and Cale] could retrieve her after her escape.

"Did she show any abilities from the other armors? Or was it just Halo?" Sekhmet asked, leaning back against the wall behind him.

"I only saw Halo's power. But she wouldn't have kept only his power," Cale pointed out.

"You said Talpa couldn't sense the power anymore in her. How is that possible?" Anubis asked, throwing in his two cents worth.

Without his fellow warlords noticing, Dais slipped away. He knew how to find the answers they needed.

/…/

Emily sat in an armchair curled up with an open English book. She had to finish reading the story on page 35 before answering three critical thinking questions at the end. They would be discussing the answers next week on Monday. The student center was mostly busy but she sat on the other side of half a wall that separated her from others.

There were a few other armchairs around including one sitting across the rectangular coffee table in front of her. She turned a page as she continued reading the story. She thought she heard something and glanced up. The open walkway across the room from her was void of people except for a passing campus security guard.

Glancing down, she spotted a complete chess board with all the pieces in place. She groaned as she returned her gaze to her book.

"Don't you boys have anything better to do?" Emily mumbled.

"The others, maybe. I'm only looking for a good game," spoke a familiar voice.

Emily glanced up again to find a disguised Dais sitting across from her. She knew it was him by the voices of the Shadows and his image flickered for a moment when she focused on him. Emily closed her book and placed it on the table before leaning forward.

"What's the catch?" Emily said.

He smirked.

"Why does there have to be a catch for us to play a _nice_ game of chess?"

She pointed at his smirk.

"Because _that _has never been a good sign." His smirk grew. "And you didn't exactly give me a free ride for our last game."

The girl spoke the truth. After their first game, Dais had forced her to give him facts about herself for each time he had her in check. Not thinking he would check more than two or three times, Emily had reluctantly agreed to it. To her surprise, he had managed to put her in check eight times before checkmate.

"You are correct. However, I will be changing up the rules this time. For every piece of yours that I take, you must answer a question of my choosing. Should you lie or refuse to play, I will release a deadly toxin into the air. _You_ may survive, but I assure you the mortals will _not_."

Emily stared at him, trying to read his face. She had no way of knowing if the man was bluffing about the toxin. It was definitely something she knew him and Sekhmet were capable of cooking up. Plus, the Shadows couldn't sense if there was a toxin nearby or not. So it looked as though she didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine. I'll play _one_ game. Regardless of who wins, you don't harm a hair on a single person in this building or by God, it will be the last thing you do," Emily said in a clear warning voice.

Dais' only reply was a small nod of the head and a gesture for her to go first.

"At least there's no stinky candles," Emily mumbled, glancing over the board to figure out her first move.

Dais let out a small chuckle in response. Then Emily picked up one of her Knights and moved it out in front of her Pawns. She wasn't surprised when Dais mirrored her move. Next, she moved one of her Pawns out and he moved one of his out. It took two moves with her Bishop to take out one of his Pawns. However, she hadn't been anticipating well when he took out her Bishop with his Queen.

"Where are the ronins, Emily?" Dais murmured.

Out of all the questions to ask that was not the first question she had been expecting. And the use of her first name didn't sit well with her, either. Emily frowned yet still answered.

"Not here. They're still in Toyama," Emily whispered.

Dais nodded, granting her acceptance of the answer. Emily looked back at the board and tried to anticipate his moves in response to what _she_ could do. She moved out another Pawn as did he. She moved another Pawn out to stand diagonal to the Queen. Surprisingly, Dais moved another Pawn out. Emily used the diagonal Pawn to remove his Queen from play.

Two moves later and one of his Pawns took out hers. Emily looked up at her opponent to hear the second question.

"Why come here?"

Emily raised her eyebrows. Huh?

"You're going to have to be a little more specific if you want a truthful answer," Emily told him.

Dais scratched his chin in thought while tapping his finger gently on top of the Pawn he had just taken. After a minute of silence, he spoke.

"Why come here to a school so far from your homeland and your precious ronins?"

Emily knew that had been the question, but she had wanted to make sure the question was clearer to both her and him. It wouldn't do for her to 'accidentally' not answer him right just because he worded a question wrong.

"I looked at a lot of schools, but this one impressed me the most. I needed the distance so I could grow and become more independent." Emily glared. "Satisfied?"

Dais hid a smirk behind a fist he had leaning against his mouth. Emily moved her Knight further out and wasn't sure what to move next when Dais moved his King out. She managed to corner him into check when she took out his Bishop and he took out her Knight.

"Double fault. You took my piece, but I have you in check," she told him.

Dais narrowed his gaze at her. She had a lot of guts challenging him but he chose not to argue against her…for now. Dais moved his King backwards and diagonal. Only a few moves and he took another piece.

"Do you still possess the power of the ronin armors?"

_That_ had been the first question she had been expecting. Rather than answer verbally, Emily nodded her head. Dais glared yet Emily held up her hands in a motion of 'What?' He never said she had to answer in words to yes or no questions. Emily was fortunate that the man was more focused on getting answers and taking her individual chess pieces than actually playing the game.

He only had four pieces left on the chessboard; two Pawns, a Rook, and the King. Emily moved her Rook to take a Pawn, but wasn't expecting Dais to move his remaining Rook across to stand in front of his King and put hers in check. Emily growled softly.

She was forced to move her Rook across the board to take out his and put him in check. Predictably, he moved his King forward to remove her Rook. She had him cornered in check with his King; he didn't seem to take any notice. She glanced secretly over his shoulder as he paused to think of his question.

Cooper was standing just around the stairs with a small jam-looking bottle in his mouth. She didn't need the Shadows talking to her to know that Cooper held the toxin. She couldn't even bother to wonder why the canine wasn't with Elizabeth Ann. Crossing her arms over her chest, Emily closed her eyes and lowered her chin to her chest.

She gave Dais the impression she was resting her eyes while waiting. Without thinking of the implications, Emily quickly astral projected so her astral body was knelt next to Cooper. She patted him gently on the head.

"Good boy. Can you take care of that without hurting yourself or anyone else?" she whispered softly.

Without jarring the fragile item in his mouth, Cooper nodded his head.

"Then do it, Coop."

She threw herself back into her body and opened her eyes as Dais voiced his question. Cooper disappeared from view with the toxin.

"What is on your hand that Sekhmet saw in the theater?"

Again, another question she had not been expecting. Holding her hands over the chessboard, Emily peeled off the glove on her left and held her palm up to face him. Dais' hand shot out to grasp hers to get a better look at it. He instantly recognized the light colored diagonal line yet he still spoke.

"Halo's power healed the scar to make it smaller than its initial cut, but wasn't able to completely heal it."

Emily snatched her hand back and jabbed her glove back on, making sure to secure the strap. She reached out from where she had his King checked in the corner and moved her Rook forward. It was her turn to flash him a smirk.

"Checkmate."

Dais' eyes snapped down to the board as Emily jumped up to her feet and grabbed up her backpack which had been sitting next to her chair.

"And goodbye."

His head snapped back up. She shot him a challenging look.

"We agreed on _one_ game. Don't go back on your word now or I might just think you're a bigger bastard than Cale," Emily cautioned him.

Dais chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. "Highly unlikely."

_caution_

_nether presence_

_approaching nearby_

Another warlord was coming. Emily had to think of a quick way out so she panicked and thought of the first thing that popped into her head.

"Hey, big brother! What are you doing here?"

Dais' head whipped back around to look over his shoulder in which Emily made a quick escape out a nearby side door that led to an enclosed stairwell. Rather than go out through the door to the outside, she shifted through the Shadows and away. Dais was slightly fuming when he turned back around in his seat. He made the chessboard disappear as he waited; he had known one of his brothers had been approaching the building.

Somehow…I think _she_ knew he was coming, Dais thought.

He stood up as he sensed his brother-in-arms approach. Anubis walked around the corner with his arms out in a shrug.

[Where the Hell you been?]

It probably was best they had this conversation in secret. It wouldn't do for any mortals to overhear them.

[I came to find some answers. We wanted to know what was going on so I came here to question Halo's sister.]

Anubis raised an eyebrow as he stopped beside Dais.

[What did you learn?]

Dais relayed all the information he had pulled out of Emily. Anubis listened quietly, taking in all the information before speaking.

[But we still have no idea how she managed to _lie_ to Talpa.]

Dais shook his head silently. He had no clue. He had decided that wasn't one of his priority questions.

[We made a decision without you. Since the girl still has her ronin power, we're going to use _her_ instead of one of the ronins. Cut out the extra work.]

Dais thought this decision over. It would prove to be a little difficult with first catching Emily and managing to keep a hold on her. However, it would be worth it to take her with them instead of a ronin. At least he hoped so.

"What's that?" Anubis asked suddenly.

Dais looked at where his fellow warlord was looking and spotted the book Emily had been reading. He picked it up and smirked as he spotted someone from over Anubis' shoulder.

[I have a plan for how to capture Halo's sister.]

/…/

Tom poked his head out from the fridge. The light attached at the top of apartment door was flashing which meant someone was knocking at the door. He placed the Tupperware container on the kitchen counter and closed the fridge. He walked over to the door where he looked through the peephole.

Standing in front of the door teetering back and forth on her feet was Elizabeth Ann. Tom unlocked the padlock and opened the door. Elizabeth Ann smiled when she saw Tom.

"_**Hi, Tom**_," Elizabeth Ann said.

"_**Hello, Elizabeth Ann. How are you?**_" Tom asked, making sure to sign slower than normal so she could follow him along better.

"…_**Fine**_," Elizabeth Ann answered, struggling for a moment for the sign.

Tom smiled.

"_**Would you like to come in?**_" Tom asked.

Elizabeth Ann shook her head.

"_**Sorry. No.**_"

She reached into the bag slung over her shoulder to pull out a book. She held it out to Tom who took it with a confused look.

"_**A person found it at the student center. I saw the b-o-o-k-m-a-r-k. Emily, right?**_" Elizabeth Ann said, fingerspelling the word bookmark out.

Tom recognized the book as one of Emily's textbooks but took a look at the bookmark anyway. Elizabeth Ann was right. The bookmark was actually a Christmas gift from him to Emily. It had images of a full moon over a large waterfall and one of her favorite quotes was written below (over the waterfall).

"_**Thank you. I will tell Emily you brought it,**_" Tom replied.

Elizabeth Ann nodded, waved goodbye to him, and turned around to jog back down the stairs. Tom closed the door behind him and locked the padlock. He thought it odd Elizabeth Ann had gotten through security but then he remembered that she had visited several times and security probably recognized her.

He placed the book down while taking out his hearing aid. He stuck his tongue out while making a face.

I need to clean the earmold again and clean my ears, he thought.

Tom picked up a Kleenex and placed his hearing aid on it. He walked around the apartment to Emily's door. He rapped on the door gently, but loudly.

"Hey, Emily? Can you get up a minute? I took my ear out."

Tom waited. He knew Emily had been resting so he would wait a few minutes for her to get up and come to the door. Unknown to him, Emily was no longer resting nor was she alone.

Emily bit down viciously on the hand clamped over her mouth and threw her head back. C-C-CRUNCH! A yell died out in her throat when the other came around her to hold a very sharp dagger to her throat. Chains zipped around her wrists, locking them together in front of her. The other arm shot out around in front of her arms and stomach.

"_Shhh. Be still_," a voice hissed in her ear.

Emily closed her mouth, making sure to calm her breathing. The dagger didn't waver from her throat and the other arm only pressed her arms against her stomach harder. They both heard a knock again, only louder this time, and a jiggle of the doorknob.

"Emily? Open the door, roomie," came Tom's voice through the door.

"_Send him away,_" the warlord hissed in her ear.

"He's deaf as wood without his hearing aid and he's not wearing it right now. I _have_ to open the door and use my hands to talk to him," she whispered back.

The abrupt tightening around her middle knocked the breath out of her. In that short amount of time of collecting her breath, the chains disappeared and the dagger relocated behind her to the bottom of her spine.

"_Open the door just a little and speak out loud. Tell him I'm here and you'll never walk again_," the warlord hissed, pressing the dagger hard enough for her to feel the heat through her shirt.

Tom was about to knock on Emily's door again when the door opened a few inches to reveal Emily. Tom stepped back, expecting Emily to step out yet she didn't. He frowned at her.

"_**What is it?**_" Emily asked.

Tom couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He just wasn't sure what.

"_**Are you okay?**_" Tom asked.

"_**I think I may be sick (**_in trouble_**)**_."

Tom didn't allow the confusion to openly show on his face. Through lip-reading, he saw Emily say "sick" yet she had signed "[in] trouble." There was no light around behind Emily and he had a feeling something, not Cooper, was in the room. But for all he knew it could be a snake.

"**How many people are in the room?**" Tom asked, turning his voice off and signing only.

Emily had to hide the smirk on her face. Anubis hadn't said anything about Tom having to use his voice. That may turn out to be a blessing.

"_**I'm sure I'll be fine in a couple (**_two_**)**_ _**of days**_," Emily said, choosing to sign "two days" instead of signing "few" in front of days.

Tom nodded quietly. This was _not_ good. How could he help his roommate and best friend?

"**Is there anything I can do?**"

Emily could tell by the small pressure to her lower back that the warlord leader was not pleased with her roommate not using his voice. She also knew that he knew there was nothing she could do to make _him_ use _his_ voice.

"_**It's okay. I'll just take some Tylenol I have here in my room. Please don't worry about me.**_"

Thankfully, fingerspelling only required the use of one hand and from where he was standing, Anubis couldn't see her. Emily fingerspelled quick as she could while Tom just signed words to her; he assumed whoever was there didn't understand what _he_ was signing.

"**W-a-r-l-o-r-d b-e-h-i-n-d m-e. A-c-t n-o-r-m-a-l. I w-i-l-l b-e o-k-a-y.** (Warlord behind me. Act normal. I will be okay.)"

Tom stopped signing and Emily finally gave him a more verbal answer.

"_**No, no need to call the doctor. I'm going to go to bed early for the night,**_" Emily said.

Tom nodded and walked back to the kitchen with a heavy heart. He felt very guilty leaving Emily alone with a warlord. He had only a vague idea of what they were capable of doing. The door shut, then the chains were back in an instant and a hand clamped over her mouth with a wet cloth. Seconds before the hand had come at her face Emily had sucked in a big breath.

Anubis had sensed this and pinched her hard, causing her to jump. But she refused to take in a breath. What was supposed to be an easy capture was turning into a real chore. Emily watched as her bedroom door became transparent to the two of them. To her horror, Tom had his back to them and appeared to be waiting on something to finish in the microwave. Behind him stood a dynasty soldier poised to strike.

"_It will only put you to sleep. Now, __**breathe it in**__ or watch your friend die_."

Emily had no choice. The Shadows were all in disarray and she couldn't call for Cooper. Her head was starting to get lightheaded, too. She took in a breath and the world went dark, her body slumping backwards into Anubis' arms. He pocketed the cloth & dagger and lifted Emily up into his arms.

The dynasty soldier disappeared and the bedroom door returned to normal. He smirked as he looked down at the unconscious blonde.

"Not so strong after all, are you, little light?" he murmured before disappearing in the night with her.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

**Note: I will be out of town for a week so next update won't be for a little while. Hopefully, during that time, all of my reviewers will make an appearance. Keep up the reading, my lovely readers & reviewers! **


	34. Chapter 33

**TheWhiteWanderer: **Hey, hey! Look who's back. Ooh! Broke computer? That's good reasoning right there. Keep reading!

**jrzgrl02:** Boy, I must drive you insane with all this cliffhanging! Hehehe Who knows what these warlords have in store for her next? You wouldn't believe how much Emily despises that 'nickname.' And they know it, too! Hope you enjoy this new chapter.

**Vampire Ronin: **This is true. The longer you wait, the more chapters you get too read. Oh, thank goodness you haven't left! You're one of my top reviewers! I've accepted that there will be errors. I'm just glad I haven't printed the 7+ pages of each chapter. Then it becomes a waste of paper and I get it irritated all over. I'm glad it's getting good for you.

**Author's Note: Hey, hey, everyone! I am at 96 reviews on this story and this is Chapter 33. I am going for a record here with number of reviews on a single fan fic and numbers of chapters on a single fan fic. Let's see how many I can get by the end of this story! **

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Anubis was standing over the large area map. They were still trying to figure out where the nearby gate was. They had been unable to locate the blasted thing so far, despite the overwhelming sense that it was here. He didn't even flinch or look up when he heard the other three warlords enter the room.

"I see our 'great leader' failed in his task," Cale taunted.

Dais, who had stepped to the other (left) side of Anubis, glanced down and smirked.

"I wouldn't say that," Dais pointed out.

Sekhmet and Cale walked over to look where he was looking. A few feet away stood a couch where Emily lay unconscious. She was curled up in a ball with a hand fisted at the side of her head. She gave off the appearance that she was experiencing pain.

[Now how the Hell did you manage that?]

Anubis flashed a smug smirk at Cale as he related the abduction back to him. Meanwhile, Sekhmet had grabbed up a few things and motioned for Dais to follow him. Dais scooped up Emily to place her on his lap with her head pressed against his chest with one hand covering over the hand she had gripping her hair. His other arm slung around to keep her other arm down.

Sekhmet knelt down with a shot filled with a light blue liquid. He rolled up Emily's shirt sleeve and dabbed a cotton swab with a wet liquid onto her arm. The green-haired warlord held up the shot and looked over the blonde's head at the other warlord.

"Hold her _still_ this time," he sneered.

Dais rolled his eye. "It was _one_ time. Get over it."

Sekhmet glared. Before, when Talpa had still been alive, the two had grabbed a hold of Emily so Sekhmet could drug her. Needless to say, she had easily broken free of Dais' hold and had nearly gouged one of Sekhmet's eyes out. He wouldn't soon forget that momentary lapse in judgement.

[Be ready.]

Dais gripped Emily tightly before Sekhmet carefully inserted the shot and the fluid was shot into her. He removed the needle and dabbed at it. He noticed the small puncture mark glow green before healing itself. He grabbed his things and walked off.

Dais stood up and laid her back down on the couch. He haphazardly tossed a blanket over her. She wasn't shaking in obvious pain anymore. The Warlord of Illusion checked her pulse and breathing; both were normal.

He placed the back of his hand on her forehead then cheek. She also appeared to have a normal temperature. After finishing checking her, he returned to the others.

"How long will she be out?" Anubis asked Sekhmet.

The last time he had been off by an hour since the girl had managed to wake up and drug the casserole before going back to (normal) sleep. So he had to calculate that in.

"Thirteen hours so she'll be awake around nine tomorrow morning," Sekhmet answered.

"Good. That should give us time to find the gate and throw her through," Cale remarked.

Anubis snorted.

/…/

/High above the skies, 3 hours away from Florida/

"I can't believe we're doing this."

The five ronin warriors were currently riding aboard a private jet bound for Florida. It had been impossible to convince Sage to stay in Japan; it had taken a while to deter him, but not to stop him from leaving. He had contacted a CEO friend of the Date family who owed him a huge favor. The man had been more than willing to have his private jet fueled and ready to leave the country.

Sage looked over at Cye who was sitting across from him in a seat that faced him.

"I can't let Emily do this by herself. What if the warlords decide to attack the mortals? She won't be able to defend them all alone," Sage argued in a calm tone.

"We know that, Sage," Ryo said, standing next to Cye's seat.

Across over from them, Kento was laying back on a couch fast asleep. Rowen was somewhere behind them typing away on his laptop. The telltale small click-clack sounds of the keys were a dead giveaway. Although he was very concerned for his fiancée's well-being, Rowen knew there was nothing he could do to help her right now.

White Blaze, unfortunately, wasn't along for the ride with them. They had decided as a group to leave him behind to keep an eye on Mia and Yuli.

Sage closed his eyes and opened the mental link to his sister.

[Emily? Em? Little sister?]

Still no answer. This worried the big brother, but he figured he would go into a full-force worry after they landed. For now, he imagined she was sleeping or working out.

/…/

It was around seven-thirty, not nine, when Emily began to stir. She let out a loud groan as she clutched her head. She knew the pounding in her head meant either someone had clubbed her in the head or Sekhmet had drugged her. _Again_.

"Great Mother of Fudge," Emily groaned as she slowly sat up.

For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating. Why else would she find herself in a large hotel room instead of a dynasty dungeon? Emily stood up on uneasy feet and checked the room. She was surprised there wasn't even so much as a dynasty soldier standing nearby.

"These guys really suck in catching and keeping a prisoner," Emily murmured, making her way to the exit.

She regretted her words when she was thrown backwards when she touched the doorknob. She flipped backwards with her heels over her head and fell to the ground in a collapsed heap. The blonde shook her head and slowly climbed to her feet.

_Locked in_

_Dynasty power_

_Exit in_

_Exit not out_

Emily smiled. Before she wouldn't have been able to understand the sometimes cryptic language of the Shadows, but this one she did understand. She sat back down on the couch and thought of being just on the other side of the door.

In a flash, she astral projected herself outside the door. To her immense shock, a small child was standing outside the hotel door across from the one she stood in front of. The child's eyes got wide as she sucked on her thumb. Emily smiled awkwardly.

"Hi, sweetie," she said.

The child smiled around the thumb in her mouth. From the partially open door behind her emerged an older child of eight or nine.

"Come on, Tabitha," he said.

The little girl took her thumb out of her mouth and smiled at her big brother.

"Magic lady," she said.

Her big brother shook his head at her. "Silly Tabitha."

Emily grinned as the two disappeared back into the hotel room. She turned around to look at the hotel room she was magically locked in. It was 410. She reached out to make sure she was right in her earlier thought; she was. It was locked the mortal way from the outside but dynasty/warlord way on the inside.

Nice try, boys, Emily thought.

She walked down the hall and rode the elevator down to the lobby. She walked through the extravagant lobby and over to the front desk. The receptionist turned to face her with a smile.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I certainly hope so. You see, I'm visiting my…_cousins_ and they forgot to give me their room key. Is there any way I can get an extra key card from you?" Emily questioned.

The receptionist was more than happy to give her a new key card. She asked for the room number and Emily gave it to her.

"You would be surprised how many people have this happen to them," she said, handing the card over to Emily.

"Thanks."

Emily disappeared back upstairs via the elevator. As the elevator slowly ascended, Emily briefly wondered how the Hell the four Dark Warlords were able to get a room in a nice hotel _and_ pay for it.

Of course, that's assuming they're paying, Emily thought.

Ding. The elevator doors opened and Emily walked out. She jogged around the corner and down the hall to the room. Time was of the essence. She didn't know how soon the warlords would be back.

She slid the card down into the slot, waited for it to flash green, and opened the door. She propped the door slightly open before standing behind it and calling her astral body back to her physical body. Emily leaped off the couch and dashed out the door, slamming it closed behind her.

Looking both ways down the hallway, Emily made sure no one was in the hall before shifting through the Shadows.

Ding.

/…/

**From: Tom**

**Are you okay?**

**8:02AM**

**From: Emily**

**For the last time, yes! Now I need you to get the $%&# out of town! Meet with E. Ann the bus station, 9:20.**

**8:04AM**

Emily had gotten off the phone a little bit ago with Elizabeth Ann. Thankfully, the other woman hadn't questioned her secrecy and had agreed to leave town with Tom. (Note: She didn't know Cooper would be accompanying them; Tom did). Emily's phone buzzed again, causing her to look at it.

**From: Tom**

**Take care of urself, Em.**

**8:10AM**

Emily flipped her phone so the QWERTY keyboard popped into view. She quickly typed a message back and hit send.

**From: Emily**

**I will. You too. This will be over soon.**

**8:11AM**

With that done, Emily finished throwing some things into her backpack and zipped it up. She slung it over her shoulder and ran out the apartment door, making sure to lock it behind her. Emily grabbed up her motorcycle helmet and swung her leg over her bike. She started the engine, backed up very carefully, and pulled out from her apartment.

Darting through the empty center spaces between the speed bumps, Emily was able to quickly leave the apartment complex and head for the interstate. As far as she knew, they didn't know what her vehicle looked like. She would have used the Shadows and disappeared to home, but she didn't want to go too far in case the warlords sent dynasty soldiers out onto the mortals.

She stopped just out of the county to gas up her motorcycle. Emily walked inside the gas station and purchased a water. She was halfway out to her motorcycle when her phone began ringing. The Caller ID read as Elizabeth Ann. Emily quickened to answer.

"Elizabeth Ann, is everything okay?" Emily asked.

"_I'm worried, Emily. Tom went back to the apartment for something and I can't reach him on his cell._"

Emily felt like a cold waterfall had washed down her body. She immediately feared the worse. She hung up the phone without consciously realizing it. She ran back inside and into the bathroom where she shifted through the Shadows back to the apartment.

The frantic blonde reappeared in the middle of the apartment.

"Tom!" she yelled.

_warning_

_danger_

She looked around in fear. The apartment was in a shambles. It looked like a hurricane had gone through it. She dashed into her roommate's room, but didn't find any signs of him. She immediately feared the worst.

She ran all around the apartment, in and out. She slid into the bathroom and gasped. The blonde shifted through the Shadows, out and away from the apartment. Sitting on the counter in pieces was Tom's hearing, shattered into almost unrecognizable pieces. Above it on the mirror drawn in blood was the symbol for the theater; two thespian masks, one sad and the other happy.

/…/

"Tom!"

Clarity had bypassed Emily by this time. Without his hearing aid, Tom wouldn't be able to hear her yet she continually called for him. She appeared at the top of the stairwell and spotted the slumped over figure of her roommate down by the stage in a corner.

"Oh, God."

Emily ran to his side and slid down to her knees. The sight of her roommate made her relieved and nauseous at the same time. There was blood everywhere. She couldn't even discern where he _wasn't_ bleeding from.

She brought her hand up to his throat and almost sobbed. He was still alive. He was just barely holding on, though.

_heal_

_help must_

_friend dying_

_nether presence_

Emily couldn't be bothered about the fact that this was probably a trap and the Dark Warlords were closing in now. She summoned forth all the healing power of the Halo armor. This caused her hands to begin emitting a green light. She brought her hands down on Tom's shoulder and stomach.

She pushed all her wishes and desires to heal Tom up to the forefront of her mind. Sparks of healing power transferred from her hands to Tom's body. She felt his body convulse as if the sparks were a defibrillator.

"Come on, Tom. Keep it together," she murmured.

Unknown to her, a figure stood in the shadows watching and waiting. Slowly, as the energy poured out of the blonde, the cuts on Tom began healing and blood stopped seeping. After what seemed like an eternity, Halo's power weakened before stopping completely. Emily slumped backwards, collapsing down onto her knees.

She struggled to breathe slowly as lights flashed before her eyes. Healing Tom had taken a lot more out of her. She closed her eyes and waited. It was all she could do as the Shadows shouted to her of the approaching presence. They both knew she wasn't going to leave her friend and she barely had the energy to breathe, let alone defend herself.

She didn't even flinch with a heavy hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed.

"I'm beginning to think we should chain you to one of us," murmured an all too familiar voice.

Emily cracked a smile. The warlord reached for her upper arm and pulled upwards, yanking Emily up to her feet. He kept a steadying arm around her waist to help her stay on her feet.

"I'm not leaving him here alone," she told the warlord.

Dais chuckled. "Silly girl. Open your ears."

Emily turned her head and strained to listen. Sure enough, she could hear the faint familiar sound of an ambulance.

"I hit the fire alarm in the lobby. They'll be here shortly and will find him," Dais told her.

/…/

Dais was watching Emily. They were sitting down in the lobby of the hotel. The room the warlords were staying in had a serious water leak and maintenance was currently in there. Dais had informed the other warlords of his re-capture of their headache (which was soon becoming a migraine). They were all still out looking for the gate that they couldn't seem to locate for the life of them.

Emily had her legs curled up and her body turned sideways in the large armchair she was sitting in. She was observing the people around the lobby. His gaze shifted to where hers was. A man was sitting reading the newspaper on a couch with a drink sitting on the coffee table in front of him.

Dais watched in slight surprise as the glass faded from view. What the…? The man's wife sat next to him with her knitting needles. She glanced around him at the table and frowned before sitting back against the couch.

"Where'd your drink go, dear?" she said, knitting a new stitch.

"What's that, darling?" he asked without bringing the paper down.

The woman huffed as she gestured towards the coffee table.

"Your drink is gone, dear."

Just before he lowered his paper, the glass faded back into view. He looked at it, frowned at his wife, and then snapped the paper back up. Dais continued to frown. Was Emily…? He continued to watch as the color in the glass went from sweet tea light brown to moss green.

The man partially closed the newspaper, picked up his glass, and then jerked back when he noticed it was green. Emily let out a small chuckle before laying her head on her knees and closing her eyes. Dais glanced at the couple, then at Emily, and then back at the couple.

Suddenly, things clicked together in his mind and the Warlord of Illusion mentally cursed. Apparently, the 'little light' _had_ managed to absorb some armor power from at least him. It was likely she also drew power from Cale and Sekhmet. It was highly _unlikely_ that she had managed to draw even a pint of power from Anubis' armor, however.

He quietly stood up from his chair and knelt down beside Emily, blocking her from sight. He reached his hand out and firmly gripped the back of her neck like an owner would with a misbehaving puppy. Dais leaned his head forward to lean on her head with his mouth near her ear.

"Where is it?" he hissed.

Emily couldn't lift her head because of the painful grip on the back of her neck and hair.

"Where's what?" she mumbled.

She flinched when his grip momentarily tightened.

"Where is the dynasty gate? The one you're hiding."

Emily immediately tensed. She could feel Dais' smirk against the side of your head. Oh, screwball.

"Wrong answer, Emily."

/…/

Emily touched a tree as she walked slowly around it. She held a flashlight in her other hand. Dais had been quite upset (to say the least) and had bruised the back of her neck while yanking her up from her seat. He had allowed her some rest to regain some of her energy before dragging her out. By now it early evening but dark had fallen quickly.

Dais was walking only a few feet behind her. It put her at unease to have him there, but there wasn't much she could do. She figured he wanted her to lead him to the hidden gate before the others showed up. She had to buy herself some time. Maybe it was time to get some answers for herself.

"What were you planning to do with one of the ronins after you killed me?"

Dais narrowed his gaze and burned a hole into the back of Emily's head. Kaori had some answering to do after this was _all_ over. His silence spoke volumes to her.

Oh, Gods! I think they were going to kill him, she thought.

She jogged a couple steps forward to get a little ahead of Dais and turned around a tree. Something latched onto her arm and she reacted. C-Crack! Whoosh! THUD! The flashlight was retrieved by Dais and he shined it close to the person Emily had managed to flip.

"Screwball," Emily mumbled.

She thought it had been Cale. Correction: she was _hoping_ it had been Cale. The momentarily dazed warlord reared up and smacked her hard across her face. Her head snapped around to the side, strands of blonde hair falling all in her face.

She glanced up through her hair at the obviously angry warlord. He moved to strike her again, but Dais caught his wrist with his hand.

"That's enough. Leave her be…for now."

Sekhmet murmured what sounded like curse words in another language. Emily brought her hand up to her bottom lip to dab at the fresh cut. The blood wasn't flowing heavily and there wasn't much so she didn't even bother healing the cut. Her hand immediately flew up to shield her eyes when the flashlight blinded her.

"Get moving, little light."

Emily glared through her fingers which squinting from the blinding light.

"With you two walking _behind me_? Not a chance in Hell," she told him.

She heard one of them snort to barely conceal a small chuckle. Probably Dais. The light got closer, making her squint her eyes closed, and Emily felt a rough hand jerk her around to face away from the two warlords.

"I won't ask again," the voice (definitely Sekhmet) warned her.

Emily suppressed a shiver. Maybe twisting his wrist back and flipping him hadn't been the best idea. Then again she was still a little drained from healing Tom and a smidge groggy from the drugging.

"I'm going to need the flashlight," she murmured.

Her hand was forced palm up and a flashlight slapped down into it. _Ouch._ That smarted. Against her best wishes, Emily started trudging forward through the forest towards where she knew the gate was. She kept the flashlight low down to the ground and ahead of her.

The two warlords followed behind her in silence. Yet they were talking up a storm through the armor mental link.

[How the Hell could you let her do that?!]

[*snort* Me? How could _you_? You're the one who just got his ass flipped by a mortal woman half your size!]

Dais brought a hand up to hold his laugh in as Sekhmet gave him the darkest look ever to date. No doubt the blue-eyed warlord would tell the other two warlords. Sekhmet was soon starting to see why Cale hated the 'little light' so much. Dais waited until he had calmed himself a little more to turn the conversation.

[Where are Anubis and Cale?]

[They're busy closing up the other gates. We don't want to risk the ronin brats following us after they discover we've taken Halo's sister.]

Dais turned his head towards Sekhmet to raise an eyebrow.

[Do they know we have her?]

Sekhmet shrugged.

[Hell if I know. Nonetheless, we're taking the precautions. _I_, for one, don't want them following us and screwing this whole thing up.]

Dais nodded in agreement. The wheels were in motion now. They weren't going back on their plan. They just had to tweak it a bit. They soon came to an opening. Sekhmet glanced around in confusion.

[I thought you said she knew where this gate was.]

Dais shared a small smile with Emily who had turned partially around to face them. She was thinking the same thing.

"That's because," Dais glanced at him, "you are looking with your eyes."

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

**What will happen next? Will the ronins land and reach Emily in time? What do the warlords have planned for our heroine?**

**Enjoy, enjoy the story! I am fired up with energy because I talked to a VERY nice-looking man with the cutest smile and chuckle. I got a name…just no number. But it's a start!**

Kento: Uh…TG, can you just finish this chapter already?

Tigergirl: *smiles wide*

Kento: *puts up his hands and slowly backs away*

Tigergirl: Not even you can put me out of my GREAT mood, darling.

Kento: O_O

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

**Anyway, please read my newest chapter and leave your wonderful reviews! Thanks. **


	35. Chapter 34

**Vampire Ronin:** I'm glad it's getting good for you. Because now it is all going to pot for Emily. I'm sorry to hear that. I'll try to look at them some time.

**TheWhiteWanderer:** Thanks for the compliment. And it turns out Mr. Hottie is married (don't that beat all; most of the good ones are taken).

**jrzgrl02:** Glad I'm still keeping your interest. And nooo, Sekhmet did _not_ enjoy getting flipped by Emily. You think he would have learned by now, though. Guess not! I did find out more about Mr. Hottie. He's married so he's out of the running now. Oh, well! That's the way the ball falls. I have always thought of becoming a writer but most of my story ideas don't even get to the pre-writing stage on my laptop. Enjoy the new chapter!

Everyone: YEAH!

Kento: Tigergirl's story is at 99 reviews. The next review will be the 100th! *starts clapping excitedly*

Tigergirl: Yes, everyone! It seems I will have reached my goal of 100 reviews which is very exciting. Can't wait for reviews and I hope you enjoy this newest chapter!

Regular Speech

_**Sign and Speech**_

**Sign only**

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Everyone was going to need to put their seat belts on soon. Sage was currently on the phone with someone and was whispering rapidly to the person on the other line. The other four stood nearby around each other waiting for him to get off the phone. After only a few minutes, he said goodbye and hung up the phone.

The look on Sage's face concerned them all, but it was his best friend who spoke up.

"Sage, what's up?" Rowen asked.

Sage released a big sigh before looking up.

"That was Elizabeth Ann. Tom's in bad condition at the hospital." Gasp. "And she can't reach Emily. Her phone keeps going straight to voicemail."

/…/

Dais stood only two feet back from Emily. She had her eyes closed and head lowered. Sekhmet was standing somewhere nearby behind them. It had pleased him to no end when Emily had openly showed her shock at him stating _he_ couldn't take down _her_ illusion.

"You have to be yanking my leg," she had protested.

He had informed he wasn't even touching her to which she had rolled her eyes. He had proceeded to explain to her how to remove the illusion herself. She took in a deep breath and imagined the illusion of the tree in her mind. The picture appeared in her mind clear as day.

She calmed her breathing down with a deep sigh. She imagined the image breaking down like pixels on a computer. Unknown to her (and only seen by Dais), the tree was disappearing with melted colors disappearing in a breeze. The wispy colors were streaming into the fingertips of Emily's hands.

Sekhmet was several feet back behind them and leaning his back on a tree. He cracked a smirk. He remembered well how Dais had first created and broken down illusions. After all, he [Sekhmet] had been one of his favorite 'test subjects.' He was surprised to see the 'little light' take a staggering step backwards.

[What the…?]

[Illusions take a lot of effort to create and even more to maintain. It's mentally draining for the inexperienced.]

Sekhmet shifted his gaze to the other warlord who was glancing over his shoulder at him. He thought over the other words before letting out a quiet chuckle.

[Hence, the reason why you're standing so close to her.]

Dais flashed him a smug smirk before turning his attention back to Emily. The tree was half gone now and the gate was visible.

He had actually been telling the truth when he had said he was unable to remove the illusion. Unlike most of his illusions used against the ronins, Emily's illusion was covering over an inanimate object. Most of his illusions were only figments of the ronins' imagination. Hardrock, in particular. Kento of Hardrock had partially been able to see through or 'break' his illusion images.

Emily took another staggering step yet didn't seem to even notice. The image continued to disappear until finally the rotted out old tree was gone and in its place was a dynasty gate. Emily opened her eyes only long enough to get a glimpse of the gate. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.

Dais threw up his arms and caught her easily. Standing up, he lifted Emily into his arms with an arm under her knees and another around behind her shoulder blades. Her head lolled against his chest with a small groan. He threw her up a tiny bit to help him shift his hold on her better.

Sekhmet stepped over to him with a curious gaze.

"Knew she was going to do that, didn't you?"

"Of course."

Sekhmet nodded in acceptance.

"I'll open the gate. Make sure you have a tight enough hold on her when you come through."

/…/

"**I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone back. I was attacked from behind. I wasn't expecting Emily to come back.**"

After the ronins had arrived at the airport, they had immediately split up. Rowen and Sage had gone to the hospital where Tom and Elizabeth Ann were while the other three went to Emily's apartment. Elizabeth Ann had contacted an Interpreter to be at the hospital for Tom. He had only just woken a few minutes prior to their arrival at the hospital.

Sage had requested Elizabeth Ann step out of the room for a while. She had gone down to the cafeteria for a bite to eat. If the ASL Interpreter was confused about the conversation, she didn't let it show.

"Did you see Emily?" Sage asked, growling.

Through weary eyes, Tom watched the ASL Interpreter translate Sage's question. He waited until she was finished to raise his hands up. His signs were choppy and somewhat rushed, despite his exhausted state.

"**I remember seeing someone standing over me in the theater. I don't know who. The last face I saw was my attacker,**" Tom answered.

"What did they look like?" Rowen asked.

"**It was a man. He was hiding in the shadows. He had a big scar over one of his eyes.**"

Sage's gaze narrowed. _Cale_. While he grew silent in deep thought, Rowen noticed how weary Tom was growing. His injuries were obviously taking a toll on him. He was surprised that he wasn't injured more, however.

The warlords, Cale in particular, would have left him worse off than this, Rowen thought.

"Have some of your injuries healed between the attack and us getting here?" Rowen asked, unexpectedly.

Tom looked at him confused. Rowen wondered what confused him about the question. Tom's answer surprised him.

"**It's strange. One of the first things he did was break my leg. So I couldn't run, I guess. But when the paramedics arrived, I was able to move my legs. No pain. They said there's nothing wrong with my legs. No broken bone. That I don't understand,**" Tom explained.

Rowen shared a look with Sage. They both had the same thought; Emily had to have healed her roommate. Sage asked him if he had seen only one person in the theater. Tom seemed to pause for a moment. Slowly, he shook his head. This time, he waved off the Interpreter who looked offended.

He motioned for the two ronins to come closer. He spoke when he signed this time.

"_**There were two people. I remember seeing….seeing a blurry person stand up. I saw another blur with them,**_" Tom said.

He tried to grasp at the meaning of his own words. His hand shot out to grab Rowen, who was standing the closest, by the wrist.

"It was Emily. I know it was. Please f-find her," Tom murmured, too low for the Interpreter to hear but loud enough for Rowen and Sage.

Rowen nodded his head and used his free hand to sign back to him.

"**We will.**"

/…/

Cye was chatting with a security guard at Pineview when he felt a chill go up his spine. He continuing listening to the man but glanced around him carefully. It felt like someone was watching him yet he saw no one.

That's weird, he thought.

Unknown to him, a figure stood behind a pillar in the rotunda above them. Cale snickered as he watched the little ronin pest talk to the other mortal. He and Anubis had finished closing up all the gates except for the one.

[Cale! Where the Hell did you disappear off to?]

Cale rolled his eyes. It never failed. The great leader was being his usual annoying self. It was a wonder the four of them hadn't killed each other in their lifetimes of serving the dynasty.

[I'm coming, Anubis. Keep your armor on.]

Cale looked down at the ronin one more time before disappearing.

/…/

After sealing the dynasty gate behind him, Cale joined up with the other three warlords. Instead of being at their old dynasty home with Kaori, they were at an inn in a small Nether Realm town. Sekhmet and Anubis were resting while Dais was keeping an eye on their captive. Dais felt the shift in the darkness of the room and spoke in a low murmur.

"It's about time you caught up, brother."

Cale appeared from the darkness by one of the only windows in the room. Emily was fast asleep on the window seat with a small blanket and pillow. She had a small bandage on the side of her head which caused Cale to raise an eyebrow.

"I handed her to Sekhmet for a minute and he 'accidentally' dropped her," Dais explained.

Cale let out a loud snort. The girl weighed maybe no more than one-twenty. There was not a chance in Hell that the strong Warlord of venom had "accidentally" dropped the little mortal. Dais relayed back to him the incident that had occurred prior to her fainting. Cale had to do everything in his power not to start laughing out loud.

From the large web he was leaning on, Dais smirked. He knew well how the other felt. Cale noticed Emily's face scrunch up. She twitched, jerked, and rolled over with a small groan.

"Your doing, I assume," Cale murmured.

"Naturally. After all, she's had many nights of sleep without nightmares. What better way to celebrate her return to our realm?" Dais murmured back.

Cale shook his head. He reached down to pull a strand of hair behind Emily's hair, causing her to shiver. It was almost as if she could sense his presence near her.

"How many days will it take us to reach the temple?" Cale asked.

"Anubis said it'll only take a few days. We're going to try to be quick about it, but it'll be complicated with her along with us," Dais answered.

"We'll figure it out. Besides, once we reach the temple and perform the ritual, Halo's sister won't be a problem anymore."

/…/

"_Emily."_

_Her eyes snapped open. She was surprised to find herself in a large open area of darkness. Sitting in front of her was the Ancient One._

"_Godfather? It's been a while since I've last seen you," Emily said, almost in an apologetic tone of voice._

"_I apologize, my dear goddaughter. The power of the warlord armors surrounded you and I was unable to come to you in your dreams. I am sorry this has happened," he apologized._

"_There's nothing you could have done to prevent this," Emily protested._

_The Ancient One reached out to take her hand in his in a comforting manner._

"_I know, child. You must be very careful. The warlords are planning something big and it involves __**you**__ now," the Ancient One cautioned her._

_Emily murmured several curses under her breath for which she apologized profusely. The Ancient One held up his other hand with a smile._

"_It's okay. I understand."_

"_Do you know what the warlords are planning?" she asked._

_The Ancient One shook his head. The darkness shifted so that the Ancient One and Emily were leaning back against a wall of some kind. They were now sitting side by side. The Ancient One brought an arm around Emily's shoulders and pulled her head down to rest._

"_I am sorry, no. Rest, child. I will keep the nightmares away while you are here."_

_Emily closed her eyes and whispered a soft thank you._

/…/

With the early rays of sunshine beaming in through the window, Emily slowly felt herself come back to consciousness. A small pounding feeling in her head almost made her regret waking up.

She kept her eyes closed and listened. She couldn't hear any sounds associated with someone else sleeping but she felt a presence lingering near her. Dreading what she would find, Emily ever so slowly opened her eyes.

What she found was certainly not what she had been expecting. She was in what appeared to be a small room with a few beds. Standing near her was a small child whose face broke out into a wide grin when she saw Emily was awake.

"Buenos diás," the girl greeted.

Emily sat up with a small yawn before speaking to the small brunette.

"Buenos diás. Tú hablas español y inglés?" Emily said fluently.

All of the Date's had been required to learn Spanish since a close friend of their Grandfather's was fluent. He had often visited while they were growing up before passing away when Emily was only 12.

"Sí. Me mama taught me. Comó te llamas?" the little girl asked.

"Me llamo Emily. What is your name?" Emily asked.

"Me llamo Carolina. Tú amigos dejas[1]," the little girl answered.

Emily jumped to her feet.

"They what?!"

She cringed as her shout irritated her pounding head. She reached up to the side of her head and unknowningly healed the area where the bandage had been removed.

Carolina threw up her arms with a big grin on her face. Emily sighed but leaned down to pick up the young child. Balancing the child on her waist, she left the room. She wandered down a flight of stairs to the ground level where Emily finally located another adult. A middle-aged woman bearing a strong resemblance to the little girl was cooking breakfast.

She spotted them almost immediately.

"Mi hija, where have you been?" she scolded.

Carolina hid her face in Emily's shirt with a shy smile on her face. The woman shook her head before introducing herself as Sienna.

"Mucho gusto. Your daughter mentioned the guys I'm with are…gone?" Emily said, showing her clear confusion.

Sienna shook her head.

"No. Ella se equivoca. They are still in town. They asked we not wake you." She shook her finger at her daughter. "Tienes hambre?"

Emily nodded. She was very much hungry. Plus, she would need the energy if she was going to survive another adventure with the three…excuse me, _four_ warlords. Sienna invited her to sit down at the bar in the kitchen. She remained standing but placed Carolina up on the bar to sit.

"Tú color favorito?" Carolina asked her.

"Verde. Green. Y tú?"

"Rosa! Pink[2]!" the little girl cheered loudly.

Emily laughed. She held a Spanish-English mixed conversation with the daughter while the mother finished breakfast. She placed a plate in front of her which finally made Emily sit down. Sienna picked up her daughter and put her on a stool next to Emily with a smaller plate for herself.

During that time, someone Emily assumed was the father entered the room. He kissed Sienna's cheek and the top of Carolina's head. He didn't seem at all surprised to see Emily sitting with them.

"Good morning. I hope mi familia[3] has been welcoming to you," he said.

He introduced himself as Paulo. Emily shook his hand firmly.

"They've been very nice, sir," Emily told him.

He motioned to his family to leave the room while he spoke with Emily. Sienna picked up her daughter before quickly leaving the room. Paulo sat down in his daughter's abandoned chair.

"[4] Me resulta familiar para mí," Paulo said, point blank.

Emily shook her head vehemently.

"Nunca he estado aquí," Emily replied.

Paulo shook his head at her and placed a hand over hers.

"Yo no he dicho eso. Le dije me resulta familiar. Al igual que alguien de mi pasado," Paulo told her.

Emily jumped down from the stool. She took her empty plate over to the sink where she washed the plate and silverware.

"You're mistaken, sir," Emily mumbled.

There were a few moments of silence. The only sounds in the kitchen were of Emily washing the plate and silverware. The next thing Paulo said caused Emily to freeze where she stood.

"Andrew Wolfe."

Her silence spoke volumes to him. He stood and walked over to her side.

"I knew Andrew. We lived in the same village for four or five years. Before he met his future esposa [5]."

He placed a hand on Emily's shoulder and turned her so she would face him.

"You are the spitting image of Andrew. Could you be related to him?" Paulo questioned.

Emily felt tears well up in her, but she kept them back for fear that the warlords could be back any moment. Paulo shook her lightly and squeezed her shoulder.

"Tell me, child. Is he your grandfather? Great-grandfather? You can't be more than sixteen," Paulo whispered.

"He was my father." Pause. "And I'm eighteen."

Paulo gasped before pulling her into a hug. He whispered comforting words in Spanish to her. After holding her for a few minutes, he stepped back with a sad smile on his face.

"Por qué estás con los señores de la guerra [6]?" Paulo murmured.

Suddenly, there was the loud sound of a door slamming open and feet traveling up stairs. Emily didn't need to hear voices to know it was her four least favorite people.

"Por favor, no hagas nada. Piense en su familia," Emily pleaded.

"Where is that bitch?" yelled a familiar voice from upstairs.

Emily glared up at the ceiling before yelling back.

"Downstairs, you arrogant ass!"

Paulo brought a hand to his mouth in surprise. He had never heard of such bravery when dealing with the warlords. Emily reassured him she would be fine.

"I've dealt with them before. Please don't be worried," Emily told him.

He heard more cursing above and other choice words that made him hope his daughter couldn't hear them. He whispered a Spanish prayer to Emily.

/…/

Right now, Emily wanted nothing more than to chop her own arm off. They _had_ to be enjoying this. But since she was walking behind three of them, she only had to guess that they had smug looks and smirks on their faces. She really hadn't thought Dais had been serious.

Yet the sticky webbing around her right wrist and his hand holding hers proved to her otherwise[7]. The only positive thing about the whole situation right now was that she had managed to give Anubis a bloody nose before Cale and Sekhmet had subdued her. That and if Dais had been holding her gloved left hand he would have felt her ring.

And the _last_ thing I need them to find out is I'm engaged, Emily thought.

Dear Lord! That would just be pure chaos and her life was crazy enough as it was. She had tried opening the mental link with Sage, but was having a hard time focusing.

I'll have to hope we stop for the night and try while I'm sleeping, Emily thought.

Emily kept consciously making sure her necklace was still safely tucked away under her shirt. She was surprised while darting around the small room in the inn that it hadn't come loose. She noticed the other three had gotten up further ahead of them, but that didn't bother her one bit. Especially since Dais didn't seem to be hurrying her along.

"I don't suppose any of you are going to tell me where we're going," Emily murmured, only quiet enough for Dais to hear.

He let out a quiet chuckle which made her shake because of their closeness.

"Why tell you when we know you love surprises so much?" Dais replied.

Emily tilted her head upwards with a small groan.

Kill me. Just kill me now. All I ask is that you make it quick and painless, Emily thought.

A sudden tightening of the grip on her hand caused Emily's head to whip to the side with a hiss.

"What the Hell?" she demanded.

Dais forced her arm back, causing her to come to an abrupt halt. She looked up and realized they had stopped at a crossroads. The three were huddled together, speaking in hushed tones. Dais had stopped a short distance from them to avoid her overhearing.

Thanks to Tom and learning sign language, Emily had improved her ability to read body language. She could lipread a little bit but they were speaking so fast she couldn't catch any words. Sekhmet and Cale stood on either side of Anubis with their bodies turned inwards to him. That told her Anubis was leading the group to wherever they were going.

He (Anubis) made small, jerky movements with his hand and arms, keeping them close to his body. He was being defensive about something. Cale had his arms crossed, signifying his disagreement with whatever his leader was saying. Sekhmet was more open and had his arms by his sides, giving Emily the impression he was more accepting of the other's words.

The paths both looked the same to her and she couldn't see anything beyond either horizon. So what if they took the "wrong" path? What could possibly go wrong?

_danger_

_go right_

_travel left danger_

_do not follow_

Oh, screwball. That didn't sound good. Emily noticed Cale turn his head to the side at a tilt. She frowned. He had jerked his head at the same time the Shadows had spoken to her.

He can't hear them, can he, she wondered.

She had never considered that possibility before. It wasn't necessarily accurate to connect shadows to complete darkness. Could the Warlord of Corruption hear the Shadows like she could? Or was he starting to sense their presence _and_ her connection to them?

Emily glanced down at her arms to make sure her markings hadn't appeared without her realizing. Her nerves went on high alert as the warlords finally came to a decision. She was uneasy as they chose the path to the left.

I have a _really_ bad feeling about this, Emily thought.

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

[1] Note: For the most part, I was able to remember the Spanish words. I took Spanish in High School and a good amount of it seems to have stuck.

Translation:

Good morning.

_Good morning. Do you speak Spanish and English?_

Yes. (English) What is your name?

_My name is Emily._

My name is Carolina. Your friends left.

[2] Translation:

My daughter, (English).

_Nice to meet you._

She is wrong.

Are you hungry?

[Carolina] – Your favorite color?

_Green. And you?_

[3] Translation: My family.

[4] Translation:

You look familiar to me.

_I have never been here._

I didn't say that. I said you look familiar. Like someone from my past.

[5] Translation: wife

[6] Translation: Why are you with the warlords?

_Please don't do anything. Think of your family._

[7] Flashback to last chapter: Dais caught Emily in the theater after healing her roommate Tom. He said was thinking they should chain her to one of them [warlords].

**Author's Note: I hope the mixing in of Spanish wasn't too confusing. I felt like adding in a different language because I am in a cheerful mood for the Fourth of July. Happy early Fourth of July, everyone! **


	36. Chapter 35

**TheWhiteWanderer: **Yeah! My 100th review! Thank you so much. It's okay about the guy. I've come to have accepted it. Thanks for the comment on the Spanish. That's why I had the translations listed, too.

**jrzgrl02:** Well, I guess you can read some more now because here's the new chapter. Lol As for what's at the temple, wouldn't you like to know? It's something I thought about a while back when I was working on the first fan fic. I'm predicting I'll wind up with either 39 or 40 chapters, depending on how I stretch the story ending out. I'm already halfway through the next chapter. Enjoy!

**Vampire Ronin: **Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy! By the way, checked out some of your stories. Nice. Very nice.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The path had narrowed over time. Anubis and Sekhmet were walking up ahead of them while Cale trailed behind them. Dais was walking even closer to Emily which made her skin want to crawl. A thick fog had set in low to the ground. It was so thick Emily couldn't see anything below her shins except a barely visible path.

This has to be the craziest thing they have ever dragged me into, Emily thought.

They had been traveling the majority of the day and dusk would be upon them soon. Emily was starting to get weirded out. The Shadows were being overly cautious, repeatedly telling her she needed to turn around and go back to the crossroads. She heard a loud creaking noise, but couldn't detect where it had come from.

She heard another creaking noise before a whoosh and small breeze blew from behind.

_warlord behind_

_disappear gone_

_caution_

Emily turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder before gasping and turning her head back around.

"Afraid of the dark, Emily?" Dais chuckled.

"No. I'm just wondering where your fourth warlord just went to," she answered.

Dais made her stop and looked over his shoulder while Sekhmet and Anubis continued forward. Dais narrowed his gaze and glanced around. He couldn't sense his brother-in-arms anywhere.

[Where did Cale go?]

A loud creaking sound echoed through the area when the two stopped. They had a good amount of space between the two pairs on the path. Anubis and Sekhmet turned around to look over in their direction. Anubis frowned.

[What the He-]

Anubis suddenly dropped downwards into the fog as if the Earth itself had opened up and swallowed him. Another creaking sound then C-C-CRACK! Sekhmet disappeared down, too. Emily let out a quiet gasp in surprise.

Dais abruptly let go of her hand and the webbing around their wrists disappeared. He threw an arm around her waist and yanked her into a protective embrace. Without warning, something cracked and creaked beneath their feet before giving out.

They plummeted down through the darkness. Everything around them was pitch black. After what felt like a short yet long drop, they touched down roughly into freezing cold water. The rough waves pushed and pulled them all over, keeping them under the water. Emily focused on the power of the Torrent armor to maintain breathing underwater.

She felt the both of them slam into a hard surface. The hit forced the two of them to separate abruptly. The water forced her further down, but Emily remained surprisingly calm. She swept the currents around her to build a small force field of sorts around her. Then she closed her eyes and focused the power of Halo to the forefront of her mind.

When she reopened her eyes, her eyes were translucent green and she could see clearly through the dark waters. She couldn't see any of the warlords above her or to the side. She looked all around and down yet she still couldn't see them. Suddenly, she remembered what her brother had told her during training over New Year's.

"_The most common light sources are thermal. A body at a given temperature emits a characteristic spectrum of black-body radiation. Close your eyes and use the armor power to detect us."_

Emily closed her eyes again as she called forth more power from Halo. She stuck out her hands as invisible waves of light bounced from her hands. They struck objects all around and bounced back, giving her all the information she needed. Three of the warlords were down the ways from her yet she couldn't locate the fourth.

She reached out further, sending the light out even further. A shock ran through her when she sensed a body sinking below her. She sensed the body was slowly losing energy.

_warlord hurt_

_bleeding_

_protected half-Shadow_

Emily's eyes shot open before she dove down and surged towards the warlord. It had to be Dais. The man had been holding her when they had collided into that rock formation. Call it clearing a guilty conscience or whatever, but she wasn't about to let the man drown. Especially when he had been shielding her.

She moved fluidly through the water like a jet cutting across the sky. Finally, she caught up to him. She didn't need the Shadows or Halo's power to tell her he was unconscious. Emily darted under him then straight up in front of him. She wrapped his arms around her over her shoulders and pulled him up against her back.

Emily expanded the force field to shield him as well. She had never used the combined efforts of the ronin armors like this before. It was very taxing on her body, but if she let the power go, she would end up drowning them both.

While using Torrent to shield their bodies from the current and Halo to guide the way, Emily called forth Hardrock to ease the burden of carrying another body. They reached the surface in no time. Emily let out a loud gasp when they broke the surface. Now that they were above the surface, Emily could see much better all around them.

Keeping the unconscious warlord onto her back like a heavy sack of potatoes, she swam towards a rock formation. She pulled their bodies up onto the flat surface. Waves splashed water over them so it was difficult to identify where Dais' injury was. The sun had set now and there was only a half moon out. Glancing up, Emily saw a cliff up where the fog was.

Deciding to take a serious chance, the blonde teenager wrapped the Shadows around herself and Dais. She shifted through them to bring the two of them to the top of the cliff. She laid his body down on the grass and immediately started looking over for injuries. She found heavy bruising that was already forming on his upper back and along his side. He had a knot the size of a softball on the side of his head.

It was bleeding quite heavily which led to Emily laying a hand over his injury. Her palm started glowing green, forcing the wound to close. Aside from that, he seemed fine; except for the fact he was unconscious. She even checked his breathing and heart rate to make sure they were at a normal level.

Convincing herself that all he needed was a little rest, Emily gathered wood and made a fire. She made the fire close to Dais but not close enough for the embers to burn him. She sat a short distance away and leaned her back up against a tree. She used the power of Wildfire to keep the fire burning as she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

It was late, the warlord was healed, and she really didn't give a hoot and holler over where the other three were. She would worry about them _after_ Dais woke up.

/…/

"So we have _no idea_ where Emily is?"

Cye glared at his best friend for stating the obvious, but nodded all the same. The two of them had just finished cleaning up the apartment and Cye was now working on dinner. Tom was to be released from the hospital tomorrow and Elizabeth Ann was going to be taking care of him at the apartment. Sage was meditating in Emily's room, trying to reach her through their link.

Rowen and Ryo were out looking for any clues as to where the warlords or Emily could be. They had heard descriptions of men matching the warlords' descriptions possibly staying at a local hotel. They had gone there to find out as much as they could.

Kento let out a loud huff from his seated place on the kitchen counter above the dishwasher.

"I can't believe this is happening again!" Kento exclaimed.

Cye couldn't help but agree with his best friend. It seemed like there was a dark cloud following Emily. She certainly seemed to be having a Hell of a year. Granted, not all of it was bad. In this school year alone, Emily had moved to another country and started college, been proposed to by her longtime boyfriend, found out she was adopted, discovered the warlords had returned, and her best friend and her roommate had both been attacked by said warlords.

It's enough to make your head spin off like a top, Cye thought.

Meanwhile, Sage was in a deep state of meditation, trying his hardest to contact his sister. Instead the spirit of the Ancient One appeared before him as Emily's room was thrown into complete darkness.

"Sage of Halo, this will be the greatest struggle for you. Many lives hang in the balance, including that of your sister Emily. This battle will lead you back into the Nether Realm and into battle with the dark warlords," the Ancient One said.

Sage kept his eyes closed while speaking.

"How are we to get there? I can't even reach Emily right now," he said.

The Ancient One reached forward to place a hand down on top of his bowed head.

"I will help you, Sage of Halo. Concentrate on me and the crest Emily wears."

Sage thought of the necklace the Ancient One had given Emily so long ago. He thought of its design and how Emily hid it from view.

[Emily? Emily, if you can hear me, _please say something_.]

Sage was happy and worried when he heard a pained groan.

[Sage? Ooh, my head hurts.]

[Em, where are you?]

Another groan. It was less pained and more annoyance.

[In the Nether Realm. I'm with the damn warlords. *bleep* That hurts.]

Sage's concern heightened as he felt Emily's pain. It seemed to be emanating from her head.

[Hold on, Emily! We'll find a way to the Nether Realm. We're coming!]

He heard a muffled response and called to Emily to repeat.

[Cooper. Get…Coop. …call…name.]

Sage snapped out of his meditation, breaking the connection to both the Ancient One and Emily. Sage scrambled to his feet and hurried out of the room. He found Kento setting the table and Cye pulling a pot off the stove. He quickly told them about the connection he had made. About this time, Ryo and Rowen had returned from the hotel.

The two ronins reported the sighting at the hotel to be unfounded. None of the security tapes showed any of them and no one could remember seeing any of the warlords. Sage got them caught up on what had happened with him.

"So we just call the canine?" Kento asked, clearly confused.

Sage nodded. Rowen shrugged. "Let's give it a try, then."

"Cooper," Sage called in a calm voice.

To their utter surprise, the large white canine suddenly appeared from behind Kento. It was almost as if he had been standing there the entire time. He made Kento jump out of his skin. The dog grinned as if laughing at the ronin's misfortune. Sage smiled.

"Good boy, Coop."

/…/

When morning came, Emily woke up to bright light and a semi-conscious warlord. She absentmindedly extinguished the fire before kneeling down. Dais blinked his eye but didn't seem able to focus on anything. She put a hand on his chest to keep him from rising.

She held up two fingers in front of his face, well in his line of sight.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Emily asked.

"…four," he croaked.

Emily lifted an eyebrow as she dropped her hand.

"Oh, that's very reassuring," Emily mumbled.

She placed her hand on the side of his head where she felt for the bump. She was pleased to find the wound hadn't reopened and it had reduced in size a little bit. Then she had him partially sit up so she could take a closer look at his bruising. Emily was somewhat pleased to see it had all disappeared. Now his skin was only light pink in color where the bruises had been.

She stood up with him and helped him trudge over to a tree which she leaned him against the bark. He mumbled something which Emily had to strain to hear. She let out a snort.

"I'm not going far, you nut. I'm just going to get some wood to start a new fire," she told him.

His gaze told her of his belief or lack thereof of what she had said. She flashed him a smirk before walking away. She managed to find a good collection of twigs that would make a decent fire. Emily returned to the wounded warrior where she set up the fire closer to where he was leaning. She stood facing him when she used Wildfire to summon fire into a ball in her hand.

Emily moved to turn and throw the fireball into the neatly put together stack when a sudden force struck in the side of the head. She went tumbling across the grass and rolled to a stop next to a rock. She wasn't able to move her head away fast enough to avoid another blow to the same spot. The blow covered the top part of her outer ear and the side of her head where the temporal lobe was.

She could hear shouting from far away but the ringing in her ears was covering over the voices.

"We need her alive!"

"Get off her!"

"_Stop!_"

Emily finally managed to reach up and block a blow. She twisted the arm and threw the heavy body off her. Despite the ringing pain in her hand, Emily forced herself up.

She bent her elbows so that her fingers were pointing towards her shoulders with palms resting on the ground by her head. She swung her knees up to her chest, while rolling back a little bit. Emily swung her legs up and forward while pushing off with her hands. Arching her back, Emily used her abdominal strength and leg muscles to pull herself up into an upright position.

Despite the sharp dizziness that attacked her head, she raised her arms up in defense while glaring at her attacker. Unfortunately, neither one of them had a chance for a fight. Dais yanked Emily backwards while Sekhmet and Dais grabbed ahold of Cale. Dais held the side of Emily's head, inspecting the damage done to it. There was a serious bruise forming where Cale had struck her.

She was surprised to hear Dais speak in a foreign language to the others. His tone of voice made her think he was upset or irritated with Cale.

"_What the Hell were you thinking?_" Dais snarled.

"_She was about to set you on fire. Didn't look like you could have done much to stop her. Nether Spirits forbid I save you_," Cale growled back.

Emily hissed as Dais' hand touched a tender spot. The ringing was dampening but it was still there.

"_She was making a fire, you idiot!_" Dais yelled back.

Despite having to hold his fellow warlord back, Sekhmet chuckled. Dais was a tad concerned since the side of her head where Cale had hit was the same side Sekhmet had dropped her earlier. He tilted her head up to make sure she wasn't suffering from a concussion.

"_Worried about the 'little light,' brother?_" Cale taunted.

Dais turned his head to glare at the other warlord.

"_You're fortunate she doesn't appear to have a concussion. Those can lead to more serious problems like her dead on the ground. Like it or not, we need Halo's sister. Lay off her until we get to the temple._"

Cale grudgingly agreed with him. The three were silent as Dais finished checking Emily over. Getting her bearings right, Emily pulled away with the shake of her head. He was surprised to see a fireball form in her hand again while her gaze focused on Cale whom the other warlords had immediately moved away from.

Dais stepped up beside her and dropped his voice to a murmur.

"Don't start something you don't intend to finish," he told her.

She smirked without looking at him.

"Never said I wouldn't," Emily said in a clear, strong voice.

Cale raised an eyebrow challengingly.

"Go ahead, little light." He smirked. "Do your worst."

Through the thin veil of rage, Emily knew that was exactly what the warlord wanted. He had been itching for a fight with her for a while. Truthfully, she wanted nothing more than to fry his ass. Then again Emily knew there was greater power in numbers and four to one wasn't exactly even.

Emily flashed him another glare before pulling the fire back through her hand. Cale's gaze narrowed. She could tell he had wanted her to take that chance; he was ready to fight. She surprised him even more by winking.

"You're not worth it," she murmured.

He tried to lunge at her again but Sekhmet and Anubis grabbed his arms, holding him back. Dais questioned her again.

"How's your head?"

Truth be told, her head was pounding like Ryo had used it for soccer practice. Plus, she wanted nothing more than to pound Cale into the ground, take a Tylenol, and call it a day.

[Emily? Emily, if you can hear me, _please say something_.]

/…/

It was a good thing the ronins had called their subarmors. It was the only way they could keep up with Cooper. Sage had asked Cooper to take them to Emily. The canine had led them outside before bolting through the trees. It was a good thing they were all moving so quickly; it wouldn't have been easy to explain their attire.

They followed Cooper through the woods, over fallen trees, and all the way to an open meadow. He stopped near the ground where the last dynasty gate had been standing. The ronins came to a stop and watched Cooper as he straightened up and threw his head back. The canine let out a chilling howl that went from low to high as he held it out long.

The ronins were surprised beyond utter belief when a dynasty gate appeared before them. It seemed as though the strange dog had called forth the gate. They approached the gate as it opened inward.

"Cooper?"

The spirit ghost wolf turned his head to look at Sage.

"Can you lead us to Emily?" Sage asked.

Cooper nodded his head once. Rowen stepped forward with a determined look on his face.

"Then let's go."

/…/

It was nearing sunset when they reached an old abandoned city. At the very back of the city were several stories of stairs leading up to what appeared to be an enormous temple. Anubis and Cale walked ahead of Emily while Sekhmet and Dais walked behind her. It reminded Emily of a team of security guards but she certainly felt far from safe with _them_.

As she walked, she had tried re-connecting to her brother through their mental link, but had been unsuccessful thus far. Dais had wrapped tight webbing around her wrists, bounding her hands together in front of her. She had landed a successful kick in his gut for that stunt. He had almost raised a hand against her yet had restrained himself.

Emily still didn't have a clue what was in the temple, but every step she took caused more worry within. The Shadows were whispering concerns to her, which caused Cale to glance around every few steps.

_temple old_

_magic sacred_

_dangerous_

That certainly didn't sit well with Emily. She would have to be blind to not see that the temple was ancient. At the top of the stairs was a large courtyard with an empty fountain. They walked around the fountain and into the temple building. The setting sun filtered light through stained glass windows along a long hallway.

They passed through the center of the temple. It was a large open area with thick pillars and a high roof with many beams. She was led down another hallway. This hall had many windows as well. There were weird markings on the walls which seemed familiar to Emily.

Suddenly, her eyes grew big and she almost gave herself away to the warlords. Now she realized where she recognized the markings from. They were almost identical to the markings on her arms.

_old Shadow sanctuary_

_once home_

_abandoned now_

_half-child welcome_

_warlords outsiders_

_keep out_

Emily was very grateful she was wearing a jacket. She could feel a slight heat emitting from her arms. She could feel the markings appear and sincerely hoped her jacket wouldn't become see-through. The blonde woman wasn't sure if the warlords knew about Shadows and she didn't want them to discover her true lineage.

At least not when things aren't in my favor, Emily said to herself.

The warlords led her deep within the temple. The deeper they went, the more nervous Emily became. More than once, either Dais or Sekhmet were forced to lay a hand on her lower back to push her forward so she would keep moving.

Finally, they arrived at a stop in a room about half the size of the center of the temple. There was a large circle with Shadow-like symbols carved into the ground. There were books on the floor over to the side where markings covered the walls like hieroglyphics in the pyramids.

Candles were placed in seemingly random places within the circle. Emily was forced to stand in the center and the webbing removed before the entire room was thrown into darkness. Emily frowned. She glanced around but couldn't see or sense any of the warlords.

She grew even more nervous. The Shadows had suddenly gone quiet in mid-speech. All they had managed to say was "_use light must no-._" Emily wondering what light had to do with it. Perhaps, though, they had detected the oncoming darkness and wanted her to find the warlords using Halo's power.

Emily closed her eyes called forth Halo's power. The kanji symbol for Spirit began to glow green on her forehead. She started to send out wavelengths of light to bounce against objects to help her detect where they went.

All the sudden, Emily's blood ran cold and she felt all the energy in her body leave all at once. Her head was thrown back and her body arched backwards painfully. Her mouth opened in a silent scream and her eyes rolled back, revealing the empty white of her eyeballs. There was a voice chanting something yet she heard not a single word.

Four different colored lights swirled around her in a vortex of unimaginable power. A light mist of green light fled from her hands to join the other colors. As the last of the green light left her hands, the kanji of Spirit disappeared from her forehead. Her eyes closed and her body slumped to the floor.

_Ba-bum. _

_Ba-bum._

Emily's eyes were barely opened yet she saw nothing. Her heart rate was slowing down with every slow, deep breath she took. The candles lit themselves and a lone figure appeared.

The person walked over to her where they crouched down beside her. An armored hand reached out to pull a few strands of hair behind her ear. Then they stroked her cheek with a finger.

_Ba-bum._

_Ba-bum._

"You have served a great purpose, young Emily. We could not have done this without you," he told her.

_Ba…bum._

_Ba…bum._

"The ronins will come. We predicted they would. It's a pity they won't reach you in time."

_Ba…bum._

_Ba…bum._

_Ba…bum._

A hand covered her eyes and moved downward, forcing her eyes to close. She could feel herself drifting off as her entire body grew cold. Her arms shook violently as she took a shaky breath. Her breathing slowed down to the point of almost not breathing at all.

"We will be certain to tell your brother of the role you played in bringing us into our full power."

_Ba…bum._

The figure leaned down to press a cold kiss onto her cheek.

"Goodbye, little light."

_Ba…bum._

_Ba…bum._

_Ba…_

END OF CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

***fans herself* WOO! This chapter got pretty intense for me. I had to take a couple of breaks and work out the parts out loud to make it work. I'm sure I have now caused mass chaos and panic. You must have so many questions. The next chapter will take me a bit of time to write. This chapter has actually been done for a few days so I've been working on the next chapter for at least three or four days now.**

**So please review! Much thanks, everyone. **


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